Behind
by Somber Secrets
Summary: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could… to never be left behind." SasoSaku
1. Teammates

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: Tell me what you guys think about the extras sections at the bottom. You like? You don't like? Critique is always good. Beta volunteers are good too! Thank you.

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Chapter 1: Teammates

'Sasuke-kun had never left.' Somehow, though Sakura couldn't fathom how, between the chuunin final exams, Gaara's hate driven destruction and the gates of Konoha, they had managed to convince him to stay. 'However, his goal of revenge never dissipated. In Kakashi-sensei's attempt to give Sasuke-kun the power that he had given up by not following Orochimaru into the night they had left the village for a two-year excursion through the countries to gain knowledge and the power that Sasuke-kun had so desired.'

Sakura knew that Sasuke was Kakashi's favorite student. It was an unspoken fact, but of what she had heard about Kakashi's past, the favoritism was reasonable. 'Kakashi-sensei had wanted to save Sasuke-kun like how Uchiha Obito had saved him.' But Sakura laughed slightly, 'wouldn't it have logically been better to let Sasuke-kun stay around Naruto longer and let the boisterous blond work his intangible magic?' Sakura's expression turned grim, 'ah', she thought, 'Kakashi-sensei didn't want Naruto to end like Uchiha Obito had. Plus who knew if Naruto's magic would work on Sasuke-kun anymore, they had been exposed to each other for much too long.' Sakura shook her head, 'of course it would work, and it was probably the reason why Sasuke-kun had stayed just for Naruto, just for Kakashi-sensei.'

So Sakura had been shocked when Kakashi had told her privately the night before they had left of what his plans were to be. "He will be consumed by his vengeance if something isn't done to save him. I'll be taking him to other lands so that he can learn, and gain power, but more so… to gain knowledge. If he does so, the knowledge will restrain his vengeance and he won't be consumed. Or at least that is the theory," Sakura had looked up at him hopefully as he had gazed back down at her. "It'll just be Sasuke and I," her smile disappeared, "take care of yourself and Naruto. We will all be okay in the end."

Naruto at that time had been offered an apprenticeship with the frog Sannin, Jiraiya, and he at first was reluctant to accept the position. Naruto had wanted to stay behind for Sasuke, but that all changed when Naruto had found out about Kakashi's plans. Naruto and Jiraiya had left the day right after Kakashi and Sasuke, promising to be back within two years time as well. Naruto's goal was not only to become the next Hokage, but he needed the power to make sure that his best friend was never tempted to leave the village again.

_Teammates_

Sakura bit her lip as she stood in front of the Hokage tower. It had been less than a week since Naruto had left with a hop and skip out of the village. He had waved good-bye to her until she could no longer see him on the horizon and his smile had never faded from sight. In their rush to gain the power they had needed to reach their goals, once again they had left her behind. She was sure Kakashi never meant this to happen, she was sure Kakashi had thought Naruto would be staying. But her teacher although a great shinobi was limited in his teaching skills and in his understanding of genin dynamic, Team 7 being his first team and all. Kakashi didn't account for other mentors that would've whisked his other male student away for their own conquests.

'Other mentors', Sakura thought. She was still within the walls of her home village and with nothing left to lose she was standing in front of the Hokage tower. "I promise you Naruto, the next time we fight together, I won't get in the way," Sakura murmured as she took one step closer to the great doors. She wrung her hands from apprehension as she stole a look to the windows of the Hokage's office, reflecting the light of the sun and preventing anyone from seeing inside.

Sakura jolted slightly and gasped as three swirls of color flashed before her eyes; orange, blue and green, the backs of her teammates.

"Sakura?" a voice called from behind her. Sakura turned around and came face to face with her best friend and greatest rival.

"What do you want, Pig?" Sakura muttered as she glanced at the doors to the Hokage tower. It didn't seem as though she had gotten any closer with that one heart-wrenching step.

Ino's eye twitched instinctively but she brushed off the insult with a shake of her head and smiled at her friend. "Shikamaru, Chouji, Asuma-sensei and I were planning to go get some barbeque pork. Would you like to tag along with us? You could eat some of Chouji's portion, he needs to cut down on all the food after all."

Sakura smiled weakly, "I doubt that would work Pig. He'd probably just order more and dig a bigger hole in your pocket or Asuma-sensei's pocket. I'm okay Ino, go on." Sakura tried to emphasize the double meaning in her sentence. Ino stared at Sakura, her eyes betraying the pity that her words tried not to express. "You and your team should just… go. Have fun, enjoy yourselves, and be together like you should be."

Ino nodded reluctantly before turning away, "See you later then, forehead!" Sakura watched as Ino walked away and took notice of how Ino's fist clench and relaxed periodically. Her short blond hair was still incased in the bun but Sakura could see that it was growing longer. 'She can't be anything but absolutely gorgeous,' Sakura thought with a shake of her head.

Turning back to the Hokage tower Sakura smiled sadly and took another step toward the great doors; she let out a sigh when her vision wasn't invaded by swirling hues. Sakura closed her eyes and thought deeply, Ino had never been left behind by her teammates and the blonde knew that. Though they had so many things in common, this was the one thing that separated them, that defined them. Ino's team was THE Ino-Shika-Cho, a two-generation phenomenon. They relied and depended on each other for everything that they did. Ino had never been left behind, she never needed to be, she was strong, top of the class, and something that Sakura from the making of Team 7 was not.

Smiling slightly and taking another step she glanced to where Ino had disappeared beyond the horizon. She was happy her friend still cared, still cared after all the crap they had been through, but she needed to do something about her own team, her own life, instead of intruding on someone else's.

"Are you just going to be standing there all day?" Tenten remarked as she pushed herself off the wall of the Hokage tower turning her head from staring at Ino to the pink haired girl. Sakura looked up shocked, the weapon mistress hadn't been there before.

Tenten had learned to be quick and quiet from an early age. She was one of the better kunoichi in Konoha, and the famed weapons mistress, but that might have also been because of her age and greater experience. 'Or her team,' Sakura thought bitterly as she gazed into Tenten's fierce dark, brown eyes. "You're Hyuuga Neji-san's teammate," Sakura stated trying to make idle conversation with the kunoichi she had never really talked to before.

Tenten rolled her eyes before smiling and nodding. "That I am. What are you doing anyway? You've been taking one step per minute, Lee would have circled Konoha once or twice by now." Tenten stuffed her hands into her pockets and walked to stand beside Sakura. Sakura smiled up at Tenten and noted that the girl had a warming presence despite the slightly harder outer shell.

"I'm…"

"I actually really don't need to know, Sakura… what ever you want to do is your problem, its just interesting watching you walk like a snail."

Sakura looked up at the weapon mistresses confident and caring eyes, "You're teamed up with a prodigy and… Lee-san…"

"You can call him a hyper-active weirdo like the one you want to compare him too, god knows that I do…and that Neji does…silently," Tenten laughed to herself.

Sakura winced opening her mouth again, "What…"

"Is it like to be the weakest link?" Tenten asked and looked at the pink haired girl. Sakura nodded meekly, "I'm not the weakest link. Sure I'm not the strongest, not the fastest and definitely not the smartest, but I'm me, and my team needs me."

"How…"

"Do I know? Because they are my team, and I will do anything for them and they will do anything for me. I won't be left behind because I refuse to be left behind. The fight with the sand bi—" Tenten paused, "Temari-san…just showed me what I needed to do to get stronger. I've been training everyday every day ever since, Neji's been helping me out as well."

"Ah…"

"I'm guessing that's why you're here, to get stronger."

"Yah."

Tenten smiled at Sakura, "You were pretty incredible during the chuunin exams, different for sure but okay, I can see why. Good luck then, in finding your own way," Tenten span on her heal, as graceful as the weapons mistress she was, "Catch up to your team Sakura, whether they know it or not, you are part of them." With a single flick of her wrist Tenten was gone with the wind.

Sakura bit her lip and grasped onto the soft material of her clothing. She stared at the spot where Tenten had disappeared. "That's what I need," Sakura muttered to herself, "I need to think like that. If I just think like that then I'll have no problems with them at all, no problems," Sakura smiled and looked back up at the tower between her lashes. Her eyes hardened as she took another step closer to the entrance. Reaching the door she lifted an arm to push it open. From the other side the door suddenly snapped open much quicker than Sakura had intended and she collapsed forward with a scream.

"S-Sakura-san!" squeaked Hinata as Kiba pulled her out of the way of the tumbling pink haired girl.

"Shit…" mumbled Sakura as she rubbed her head and looked up at the girl who was infatuated with her hyperactive blonde teammate. "Hinata-chan, Kiba-kun, Shino-kun, I'm so sorry…I was just…"

"Oi, don't bother about it so much," Kiba grinned, "No harm done." Akamaru barked from beside him and licked Sakura's knee tenderly. Sakura smiled and patted the white puppy on the head.

Shino silently offered her a hand and she took it. Standing up she nodded at them as Hinata turned a bright red. "S-sorry Sakura-san, I didn't m-mean to make you f-fall."

Before Sakura could reply Shino spoke, "Hinata, don't take the blame all the time, I'm sure Sakura-san doesn't blame you." Through the sunglasses Shino gave her a pointed look.

'Like that was needed,' Sakura thought. "It's okay Hinata-chan, no harm no foul right?"

Hinata nodded really quickly as Kiba dragged her outside, "Bye Sakura!" Kiba shouted as Shino tagged along behind them. Sakura watched as Shino caught up with his two teammates. The two boys placed Hinata right between them automatically and conversed with her quietly. Kiba still had his hand loosely clutching Hinata's shoulder supporting her, as she continually looked back at Sakura her eyes reflecting sadness. It seemed at though Hinata missed Naruto just as much as she did.

Sakura tilted her head, turned around and smiled as she looked around the lobby of the Hokage tower. 'First part of the mission finished,' she thought triumphantly. It might have taken an hour longer than expected, but now that she was actually inside the building; one of the harder parts was over.

Her steps were much quicker now as she walked up the stairs to get to the Hokage's office. Sakura brushed her hands against the railing and a wave of nostalgia washed over her; she had been up these steps many times before but every other time she had had one of her best friends going up with her. Now she was walking up the incline by herself, she had no choice but to. There was no one to be with anymore. No Naruto, no Sasuke-kun, no Kakashi-sensei, just little Haruno Sakura.

Coming up to the top of the stairs she came to a hallway that circled the giant dome that sat on top of the building. Walking around to the other side with the clicking of her standard issue sandals and passing the many unidentified rooms, she came to the desk that Shizune was sitting at.

Sakura scoffed the soles of her feet against the wooden floor and walked up to the Hokage's assistant who was mumbling about drunken Hokage's at nine o'clock in the morning harshly while taking a brush, dipping it into a pot of ink and neatly running the tip over the last page of document sitting on her desk. "Sh-Shizune-san?"

The Hokage's assistant finished her stroke, confirming to Sakura that Shizune had heard her approach, deeming her safe and watched her nod before looking up. A smile blossomed across her face immediately at the sight of the pink haired, shaking girl, "Sakura-san. What a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you today?" The brush in her hand was set down on the table without a sound and Sakura marveled at the simple display of skill.

"I would like to request a meeting with Tsunade-sama," Sakura mumbled meekly as she felt all the courage that she had gained walking up the stairs seep away from her. Shizune was already showing her unconsciously what she lacked in skill as a shinobi and she wondered if the decision she was making was the right one.

Shizune nodded thoughtfully and tapped her lip. "Tsunade isn't in a meeting right now, but I don't think she's very fit to be talking with anyone at the moment. I'm sorry, Sakura-san."

If all of the courage Sakura had gained was seeping away quickly before then, the comment blasted the rest out immediately. "Is t-that so? I will come back another time then. Thank you Shizune-san."

Shizune smiled sadly as she watched Sakura turn around and stiffly walk back to the stairs. Everyone knew who Haruno Sakura was, not directly, but by dire association. Everyone knew who Naruto was and if not him, than they knew the Uchiha or the copy-nin.

Shizune was pulled out of her reverie when a foot stopped down onto the hard wooden floor. Her eyebrow suddenly rose as she saw Sakura pause before clutching her head and muttering angrily at herself.

"How dare you just give up like that?" Inner Sakura yelled and began to rip at the barrier of the inner mind angrily with her fists.

"I can't!" Sakura gritted out.

"Get back there! GET BACK THERE AND SHOW THEM THAT YOU ARE TEAM SEVEN!" Inner Sakura continued to scream shrilly.

"Shut up already!" Sakura ground out and stomped her foot again. Shizune stood up in worry for the pink haired girl who was still yelling at herself. "Don't you DARE! Crap!"

And suddenly, just like that, Sakura turned and around and grinned at Shizune confidently. "From what you were muttering before I spoke Shizune-san, I'm guessing the reason that Tsunade-sama can't talk right now is because she has a hangover. I'm still willing to talk to her even if she is inebriated, what I have to ask her is very important."

Shizune quirked her eyebrows again as she watched the meek, little pink haired girl suddenly have a fire burn behind her eyes. Nodding slightly she watched as Sakura's lips twitched as though they weren't totally in her control. Turning around she stood in front of Tsunade's door and knocked gently. "Dodge everything that comes your way Sakura-san."

With that, Shizune pushed her into the room. A stapler slammed into the wall just to her right and Sakura ducked in time to miss the lamp that came flying at her head.

"What do you WANT!" Tsunade groaned as she lifted her head and stared at the girl in front of her. One side of the Hokage's face was covered in ink and both of her eyes were droopy from exhaustion. Sakura's hair stood on end from fright but she surged forward to have her face directly into that of the Hokage's.

"I want to be your student!" and with that all of the fire died in Sakura's eyes and suddenly the fear swam right back in. Shizune giggled from the other side of the door noting down that they severely needed to redo the sound proofing in the Hokage's office. Tsunade looked at her curiously as Sakura suddenly backed off and assumed a pose of submission, much different from her face shoving attitude mere seconds ago.

Bracing herself against the desk, Tsunade leaned back on her chair and inquired the girl quietly. "Why?" she simply asked. Her headache was pounding on her eardrums, but what the girl had to say, Tsunade knew, was going to change everything.

Sakura's eyes fluttered up to the Hokage and watched as amusement passed by on the Slug Princess's face. "I don't want to be left behind, n-no I refuse to be left behind by my team." Sakura remembered Ino, Tenten and Hinata, she was glad that she had met them before she had reached her destination. She knew now what she wanted more than ever. She wanted the feeling of belonging; she wanted to belong like the other three kunoichi belonged on their teams. She was going to do anything to feel like that.

Tsunade nodded and stared outside of the window. "Considering that you are from Team 7 and it was Naruto who got me here in this beautiful hellhole in the first place, I have read quite a lot about you Haruno Sakura."

Sakura nodded, "Ah…"

"Kakashi reported you as having flawless chakra control during your first training session on your first mission. You had also graduated the academy with astounding academic results, Iruka said that you loved to read and memorize books. However, you did poorly in combat and all other areas, but that has improved has it not?"

Sakura nodded as her eyes lit up again, "It has improved slightly Tsunade-sama, but that is what I am here for, to improve myself even more." Her back straightened, her stance defined itself and she stared hard into the Hokage's serene but hard brown eyes.

"Very well Sakura, I'll make you my student, despite swearing never to take on another brat ever again."

Sakura's eyes flashed with a burning fire as she thought about her two teammates and her sensei, she was finally going to be able to catch up. Inner Sakura yelled in victory. She was finally not going to be a burden to Naruto. No more swirling colors would invade her vision, no more turned backs.

"On one condition Sakura," Tsunade hummed as she sat back in her chair and put one foot on the desk, her grin intensified, "No one must know about your apprenticeship but those I get involved in your training."

Sakura's eyes flashed again as Inner Sakura speculated before egging her on, "Understood Hokage-sama." She didn't dare question the condition. She didn't want to know the answer.

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**Next Time on Behind**

Two years ago she had stood here, two years ago she had met the three other kunoichi that would define their generation, two years ago she had been a different person, but now…now she was Haruno Sakura, apprentice of; one of the three legendary Sannin, the Godiame Hokage, the Slug Princess, and she was the third best medical nin in all of Fire Country as overtly declared.

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**Secret's Corner**

Since this is just the first chapter, nothing much is up for discussion. But the gist of what goes on down here is that I'm just going to be mentioning a couple things that I had in mind during the writing of the chapter. Song inspiration, art inspirations, the mind set that I was going for as well. Deleted scenes would also probably take a stand in this section because sometimes you really want to put something in, but you just can't make it work with the story no matter what you try to do. Also this place can give people ideas for discussion, or where I'm going to be replying to interesting comments. If you have something awesome to say, but decide you don't want it discussed down here, just tag it along in your note and discussion can happen else where. Here's hoping to hear from all of you soon!


	2. Apprentice

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: Thank you to those who have reviewed. You're awesome! Sorry, but this chapter still doesn't really pick up. But it is important : D

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Chapter 2: Apprentice

Sakura pulled on her gloves and tied her forehead protector around her short pink hair. Looking into the mirror she saw the reflection of the girl she had been two years ago and then she saw who she was now. A proud grin surfaced on her face as she twisted her body to observe all the aspects of her that had changed.

Her round facial features had squared out and now her cheek and chin were defined. Her eyes were sharp and calculating, her stance was confident and graceful. Her meek eyes and trembling lips were long gone and she was donned in more practical fighting gear that looked nothing like fighting gear.

Her shirt was red like it had been when she was a child and zipped up from her right shoulder to just under her breasts, but unlike when she was small, it was just a shirt. The shirt fit much more comfortably and allowed for much more movement in her actions. She donned black shorts and an apron that looked a lot like a medic apron but different enough to not be identified as one. Her elbows were covered in beige pads and her gloves where fingerless. Everything that she wore now was made for a fighter, not for a little genin girl.

"Oh, god damn it," muttered Sakura as she turned away from the mirror and went to grab her sandals. "I look like Shishou… without the giant cleavage… yah, pft."

Inner Sakura had disappeared not two months into her training with Tsunade, Sakura could only guess that Inner Sakura was the girl that Sakura was always destined to become. Sakura sighed thinking that she missed the noisy loud-mouthed idiot sometimes, then winced realizing that she WAS the noisy loud mouth idiot that used to stomp around in her head. "That's just great isn't it…" muttered Sakura as she adjusted the elbow pads. However, Sakura had never gotten over the habit of talking to herself.

Pulling on her sandals while hopping around her room Sakura braced herself on the wall and pulled on her shoe with a snap. She ran her hands over her shirt straightening it out again and then over her beige apron-skirt. Smiling as she retightened her gloves she opened the door to her apartment and paused. The sunshine streamed down onto her face and warmed her skin soothingly.

Taking in a large gulp of air and turning around Sakura closed the door to her apartment and hopped off the ledge of her apartment complex. Dropping down three stories she landed effortlessly and began to walk toward the Hokage tower. The sun continued to warm her skin as she brushed her fingers gently through her short locks of pink hair. At one point during the two years she had grown it out again, but it had become a nuisance. Instead of looking more like her mentor and tying her hair into long ponytails, Sakura had chopped off the locks again with her favorite kunai; the one that she had retrieved by venturing back into the forest of death about one year and a half into her training with the legendary Slug Princess. The venture had been almost effortless on her part.

"FOREHEAD!" shouted Ino as she jumped in front of Sakura and put her hands on the blossom's shoulders to stop her movement. Their eyes locked and flashed, blue against green, before they smiled and jumped at each other and into a big hug.

"PIG! It looks like you're finally back from your mission. How did it go?" Sakura inquired as she smiled at her best friend and looked her up and down instinctively looking for any injuries. Her friend was flawless as always.

"Same old, same old. Missions are getting boring these days. I want some action!" Ino shouted and thrust her arms into the air, "Something crazy has got to happen soon."

Sakura laughed, "You might regret saying that you know."

Ino looked at her incredulously, "If I'm bored doing missions you must be bored out of your mind sorting papers around for Shizune-san. Tell me again why you decided to opt out of missions for the past two years?"

"My team isn't here Pig."

"Pft, like you need that silly team Forehead. Come join us some time, I'm sure Tsunade-sama wouldn't mind."

Sakura laughed inwardly, "I like doing papers. I get to know the inner and outer workings of the village and its pretty calming to say the least."

Ino raised an eyebrow, "So somehow doing papers has made you feel and act better than ever? Doing papers has made you bloom into a flower… I don't believe that. Who's the lucky guy?"

Sakura smacked Ino on the shoulder, "There is no lucky guy."

Ino rolled her eyes, "Fine be that way, you know I'm going to get it out of you eventually. Anyways I need to go find Chouji and Shikamaru again, Chouji probably dragged him to go eat barbeque. He was complaining about not eating it for…what? Two days?"

"Two weeks Ino."

Ino shrugged and hugged her best friend again. "You better tell me everything that happened in the past two weeks later, okay Forehead?" She backed off smiled and ran off to find her teammates.

Sakura's smile left her face the moment that Ino had gone out of sight. It was true that she hadn't been on any official missions for the last two years, but it definitely wasn't true that she was only doing paper work for the Hokage and her assistant.

As the condition that Tsunade had given stated, Sakura had kept her apprenticeship a secret from all her friends and her family. It had gotten to the point where she had to move out of her childhood home in order to explain why she was never there in the first place.

Her parents had been as supportive as they could have been, knowing that their fourteen year old was somehow going to live alone. But after a talk with the Hokage and how Tsunade had stated Sakura needed to live closer to the tower for village matters, her parents had relented. The apartment that she was living in now was still paid for by Tsunade. She had been living there for the past year. Her parents had left Konoha weeks after she had left and had disappeared off the face of the country. It was confirmed that they had perished while on a second honeymoon in Wave Country. Sakura had cried, but she couldn't help but feel guilty about the fact that she had cried more over Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi simply leaving. They had become more of her family than her parents had and Sakura would never be able to get rid of that guilt although she had learned to live with it.

Sakura frowned. Everyone had their own suspicions for what was going through her mind, what she was doing, why she was more confident, more graceful, happier despite tragic circumstances, but so far none of them were right. At least of what she had heard and that was a lot considering her best friend was a gossipmonger. None of them believed that Tsunade would have taken up another apprentice after Shizune.

The only people that knew of who she was now, who she really was now would have only been Tsunade, Shizune, Ikibi and Genma. All of which were sworn to secrecy on the Hokage's word.

At first Sakura had always questioned Tsunade's condition of secrecy, but the answer was given to her exactly one year into her apprenticeship. Sakura remembered the event quite clearly.

_"Sakura. Before you leave I would like a word with you in my office. Now," Tsunade demanded as she turned and strolled into her office. Sweat was pouring down Sakura's forehead and dripping off her chin. Miniscule incisions raced across her arms, but there were only four, much less than there had been one month previous when she had started this particular bout of training._

_Sakura rushed in after Tsunade, although she really felt like she needed to go home, and the door closed behind her. Shizune was standing outside the door it seemed, to make sure no one walked in while the discussion was taking place._

_Tsunade sat down on her chair and rested her elbow on the wooden table. She gave Sakura a good once over and nodded her head approvingly. "I will take to the fact that today went quite nicely."_

_"Yes, Shishou."_

_"You're improving much faster than I thought you would've. I wonder what the little prick did to get this kind of result. Though over all there has been no one better since Shizune, I would gather," Tsunade stated as she took a pen and flipped it between her fingers. Suddenly Tsunade's stern but warm gaze turned on her, "Sakura, I will tell you now why my condition was as it was."_

_Sakura swallowed loudly and nodded. Tsunade gestured her to sit down and Sakura braced herself down on the hard wooden seat. "Thank you Shishou." Her hands ran up and down her arms. Goosebumps were starting to appear on the edges of her skin where she touched and her breathing was coming out in longer gasps, but she had to endure._

_Tsunade nodded. "Sakura, did you know of the copy-nin when you were first placed on his team?" Sakura shook her head in the positive. The extensive knowledge she had acquired as a student allowed her to do so. "When you became a team and encountered your first true foes, did it seem like any of them didn't know who the copy-nin was?"_

_"Everyone knew who he was, Shishou."_

_"Precisely. Kakashi is a strong, effective, and deadly weapon. Everyone from all the other villages knows that. He's in the bingo books spanning countries and most importantly he is studied."_

_"Studied Shishou?"_

_Tsunade sighed, "The only reason that Kakashi still remains a threat to this day is simply because he is so unpredictable," Tsunade scoffed and Sakura thought back to how her teacher read perverted books in public and was always late, "When someone as high profile as Kakashi is on the top for more than ten years, what am I kidding three years is a better average, they are almost always wiped out. This is because countries will study your weaknesses, access what they can do to take you down and then effectively they will do it. It takes time, but it shortens the life span of the elite by decades. This is saying something considering that just one extra year in any shinobi's life can make a difference."_

_"I understand Shishou," Sakura grinned. Her cheeks puffed out as she felt them redden from appreciation._

_Tsunade turned her eyes back on her apprentice, they were stern again but a smile was tugging on her lips, "You're not an elite yet Sakura, don't let your pride overwhelmed yourself." Sakura's ego deflated, "But you will be in less than a year's time. The progress you've made is incredible and I could only imagine what you would have been like now if I had taken you when you were a genin," Tsunade laughed, "but then if I had taken you then you wouldn't of had the motivation to become strong like you did a year ago. A catch-22 I would gather."_

_"Yes Shishou, I will admit that I would not have gotten to the desperation I was at a year ago without my experience with Team 7."_

_Tsunade smiled before her face turned glum, "You do realize that once you come out and I use you as a real weapon against others that the secrecy may only last for two years at most. Two years to your life as an elite for decades of being a regular, can you deal with that Sakura? Is the trade worth it?"_

_Sakura paused and stared at the Slug Princess. She realized what Tsunade was doing; she was giving her a way out. Sakura stood up abruptly and her eyes hardened, "I will be your weapon Shishou, I understand the implications."_

_Tsunade smiled and scoffed again, "Most importantly Sakura. It means that you will never be left behind by your team again," Sakura smiled tears almost streaming from her eyes, "but as the secrecy thing goes. They won't know how strong you are for a while. They may not be…kind."_

_Sakura smiled, "They are my team Tsunade, they will know that I am catching up."_

_Tsunade smiled, "Very well. Dismissed."_

_Sakura walked out of the office with her head held high and her hands brushing over her four now healed scars._

Sakura shook her head and realized that in all her daydreaming she had not moved from her spot at all. "Tch, I'm late," Sakura muttered as she sped up her pace to walk toward the Hokage tower.

It took her less than five minutes to reach the large wooden doors. Sakura looked up at the fire symbol that hung proudly over the arch of the doors and above that the darkened windows of her Shishou's office. Two years ago she had stood here, two years ago she had met the three other kunoichi that would define their generation, two years ago she had been a different person, but now…now she was Haruno Sakura, apprentice of; one of the three legendary Sannin, the Godiame Hokage, the Slug Princess and she was the third best medical nin in all of Fire Country as overtly declared.

Pushing open the large wooden doors and heading towards the stairs, she gave a curt nod to the receptionist and the guards that were positioned around the facility. They smiled back at her and waved cheerily. None of them knew that she had identified their positions long ago; they were civilians to most others in the village.

She skipped up the stairs two at a time and came face to face with Shizune who was pacing outside of the Hokage's office. She was brushing her bangs out of her face fruitlessly while her lips iterated something that could not be heard. She shook her head and laughed. "Shizune-san?" Sakura inquired. The woman was not one to pace.

Shizune looked up at her and smiled, "Sakura-chan, you're late!" Sakura beamed at the affectionate honorific, as Shizune laughed, "You will need to get in there quickly. Tsunade-sama has an important mission for you."

"As important as the mission I received seven days ago?" Sakura chuckled light heartedly. Shizune's eyes hardened and she nodded.

Sakura stood there shocked. It didn't seem likely that two important missions would be piled up on top of each other like they were being now.

_Seven days ago Tsunade had requested her presence immediately and sent her out just as quickly. She was to have left the village without anyone but the Hokage and Shizune's knowledge and travel to Suna._

_It had appeared that the Kazekage's brother, Kankuro had encountered a formidable foe just the day before and had been submitted to a poison that none of the medics of that village could decipher including the illustrious Chiyo-sama. She would be sent to heal him with only the Kazekage, his sister and the female elder present._

_Upon arrival after the three-day trip Sakura had been let into the village without anyone but her escort, Temari, knowing and brought to where Kankuro lay moments from death. Using all of the poison extraction techniques that Shizune and Tsunade had mentored her in, Sakura had removed most of the poison and had created an antidote to neutralize the rest._

_In Kankuro's relaxed and healing state he had managed to get out one word and pass her an important object before falling back to sleep. "Akatsuki…" The object he had handed her was part of a torn robe. It was black and had the pieces of a red cloud still on it._

_She had spoken with the Kazekage, Temeri and Chiyo-sama briefly during her time in Suna, but her mission came first and she had bid them farewell._

_The same day she arrived, Sakura had left the village again without being detected but she had brought two things along with her as Tsunade had requested the other. The Kazekage had agreed to give her the poison that was extracted from his brother._

_The moment that Sakura had reentered Konoha, she had reported to her Shishou handed her the cloth and had disappeared into the green house for more than half a day. Yesterday she had reappeared with a smile on her face and more than enough antidote to neutralize the poison five times over._

_Her mission had been accomplished and it was almost like she hadn't been on one at all. No one had seen her leave or return, no one missed her presence in the village during the six days she was gone. And although this boded well for her assigned duty, Sakura still felt like not being missed just wasn't right._

Shizune motioned for Sakura to step closer before opening the door and letting her in. "Remember Sakura, you are not Tsunade's apprentice."

"Yes Shizune." Sakura murmured as Shizune pushed on the handle and opened the door. "Tsunade-sama, you requested for me?"

Tsunade turned around in her chair with her fingers interlaced and her hands beneath her chin. Her eyes were clouded and stern. Before the door behind her even closed Tsunade spoke, "I have a mission for you Haruno Sakura."

Sakura was shocked that a mission for her was being spoken so freely about, not a single one had been done so since two years previous, but her inquiry was answered within two steps into the office.

"Sakura-chan!"

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan! I missed you so much! Were you lonely without me?"

"Sasuke-kun, Kakashi-sensei, it's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"I have an objection Tsunade-sama, I don't think that Sakura should come with us for this mission."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

Oh, second chapter is finally up. I'm going to be updating about once a week give or take one or two days. It also depends on how I feel about writing the next chapter and editing everything. If there are any mistakes in the content please tell me.

So...there are tiny little details in here that will be important later on. Probably isn't going to be noticeable until its importance has been pointed out. Hopefully it won't be missed so badly by the readers.

Until next time, please review!


	3. Enough

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: Thank you so much for the reviews everyone!

* * *

Chapter 3: Enough

Sakura froze on the spot as a large orange and black blur tackled her over and slid her across the floor into the wall. It took all of her willpower not to accidently send him flying out of the window and across Konoha on reflex. Sakura took in a huge breath and calmed herself as she felt Naruto rub his face into the crook of her shoulder and neck while his warm arms encased her waist in his signature hug. "Naruto…"

"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan! I missed you so much! Were you lonely without me?" Naruto asked as he looked up at his old crush. His eyes were still big, blue and most of all they still had their sincere glow. It seemed as though two years had not change the young beast.

Sakura laughed lightly while trying to still take in several breaths as she pushed Naruto off of her. He crawled backwards and stood up as she pushed herself off of the ground. "Of course I missed you Naruto," Sakura managed to smile. She looked up at him and grinned. "I'm looking up at you…"

Naruto laughed gallantly and held a hand above his head as to measure his height compared to hers, "I grew taller Sakura-chan!"

Sakura laughed and twirled around, "Did I change at all?" she asked.

"No Sakura-chan, not at all," Naruto stated with an innocent grin. Sakura scowled, clenched her fist and nearly decked Naruto in the face before she was interrupted by a timely cough.

Looking up Sakura stared mesmerized as she finally noticed Kakashi, Sasuke, Jiraiya and Tsunade were all looking at them with amused eyes. "Sasuke-kun, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura murmured as she flippantly pushed Naruto aside and went to stand in front of them. She resisted the urge to hug the black haired boy. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?" She wrung her hands in nervousness as a soft smile graced her lips.

Sasuke nodded a smile nearly tugging on his lips. Sakura laughed inwardly, 'at least he was trying. Kakashi must have done something absolutely amazing', Sakura thought as she smiled back at her childhood crush.

Sasuke almost seemed shocked that she didn't try to initiate any physical contact with him. "Hello Sakura."

"Welcome home Sasuke-kun."

Kakashi coughed again as he looked down at his pink haired student. She looked up at him and smiled weakly. He responded with his signature eye crease, "Sakura…"

"Kakashi-sensei, you look… masked as always…" Sakura managed to choke out.

Kakashi looked away from her, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that Naruto was planning to leave," his words were quiet, she was sure that she was the only one who heard him.

Sakura tilted her head and smiled sadly, "It's okay, I'm all okay."

Kakashi frowned beneath his mask as he heard his own words repeated and twisted through her lips. He couldn't quite understand the cynicism he heard in her tone, Sakura, as he had known her, had never been a cynic. Tsunade tapped her empty sake dish on the table to draw their attention towards her and Sakura noticed that her Shishou was not giving her any more attention than the rest. Sakura smiled inwardly, the inattention almost hurt. "You're late Sakura."

"I'm sorry, I was a little bit distracted on my journey up here."

Tsunade scoffed, "Distracted enough to appear five minutes later than the copy nin, I'm utterly repulsed." Tsunade paused before slamming her hand on the table and standing up to face the entirety of Team 7. Sakura straightened her back ever to slightly at the violent display. Jiraiya stood behind her absentmindedly with his arms crossed and a serious expression on his face. Tsunade's eyes turned dark as she scanned each of the members standing before her. "I have a mission for all four of you, S-class."

Kakashi seemed like he wanted to say something, but that was only because Sakura was more in tuned to his movements than ever before; she was tuned to all of her teammates movements. Naruto was fidgeting slightly and was slowly inching closer to her, Sasuke's eye twitched ever so slightly but it seemed as though even he didn't even notice the movement, Jiraiya was staring off at the horizon but his eyes were scanning. Sakura turned her senses back to Kakashi but it seemed like he had decided to keep quiet until Tsunade had finished the mission briefing.

The Hokage pulled on the scroll that was sitting neatly on her desk and opened it up. One word blazed above the rest and six pairs of eyes turned dark at the sight, _Akatsuki_. "It was recently reported by a trustworthy clientele," Sakura took in a slow breath, "that the Akatsuki have been in Suna and are now headed toward Konoha. They are within out territory, this is our chance to strike while we have the home field advantage." Tsunade scanned the group, "the Kazekage…"

"Did something happen to Gaara?" Naruto shouted. Tsunade gave him a pointed glare to shut up and Naruto stuck his tongue out at her.

Tsunade sighed in annoyance but continued to leer at the kyuubi daring him to interrupt her again, "…Has had his brother attacked by one of the many members of the organization and we suspect that member to be one of the ones lurking in the Fire Country. However, there have been reports saying that he is not alone and there may be up to three more."

"Is one of them Itachi?" Sasuke asked defiantly, Tsunade turned her cold gaze from Naruto to Sasuke. The Uchiha didn't even flinch.

Tsunade huffed, she couldn't decide if she loved or hated this team. "We don't know." There was a pause before the Hokage continued, "I want you all to read up on the mission details and I expect you out of the village by sunrise tomorrow. That should give you more than enough time to prepare and not enough time for the Akatsuki to move out of the country." She let the information register while she sat and shifted in her chair.

Sakura thought that she was to be the one to ask, "How will we be able to track them down Tsunade-sama?" Sakura had felt as though she had made her question sound convincing enough although she already knew the answer. Acting had never been one of her stronger points, hopefully she was convincing enough, but Kakashi was distracted either way.

Tsunade looked at her and smiled, "By this," she reached into the drawer and Sakura was not shocked to find the torn black and red fabric in her Shishou's hand. "Kakashi, your ninken will be able to follow the scent on this fabric to its owner, I'm sure."

Kakashi nodded, Sakura noticed that he was still holding back a little while longer for what he wished to say. "You will have to be careful," Jiraiya suddenly said from behind the Slug Princess, he put a hand on Tsunade's shoulder and she only shifted ever so slightly from the unwarranted touch, "I'll be else where collecting on different sets of information on the Akatsuki, but Naruto," Jiraiya gave his pupil a grin, "You know how to contact me if you need me."

Naruto nodded as he pumped his fist into the air. "Let's do this!"

"So then it is settled, Team 7 will be…"

"I have an objection Tsunade-sama," Kakashi finally iterated with a slow steady breath. Sakura looked up at him and noticed that he was looking back down at her from the corner of his eye. "I don't think that Sakura should come with us for this mission."

Sound stopped. No one breathed.

Sakura's world cracked, shattered and fell apart while she was desperately trying to hold onto the falling pieces.

_Enough_

Sakura froze. All movement ceased, her hands stopped fiddling, her breath hitched and her heart skipped a beat. She full on turned her head to observe her old sensei who was now doing everything in his power not to look down at her. Sakura's hand fisted and she wanted to scream. Tsunade sighed and tapped her fingers on her cheek, "And why should she not?"

"Tsunade, if what I have heard recently is correct…"

It's not you fool! Sakura wanted to bellow. Her knuckles turned white from the strain.

"…Sakura is at best is only at a chuunin standard. An S-class mission shouldn't even be considered for a chuunin," Kakashi stated with a wave of his hand and a calm demeanor. Sakura wanted to smack him upside the head with her "chuunin standard" skills.

How can you exclude me so quickly? Sakura raged and resisted the urge to hiss at her sensei.

"All three of your students are technically at a genin rank, should I just pass this mission off to someone else?" Tsunade inquired with a flick of her nail and a glance at the Uchiha. She knew what his reaction would be.

"I refuse to let this mission go to someone else."

Kakashi sighed, "I can vouch, and you know that I can Hokage-sama that Sasuke is very clearly in the jounin standard and I'm sure that Jiraiya can say the same about Naruto." Jiraiya gave a small nod as Tsunade turned to him but his eyes were trained on the pink haired girl who's bangs were hiding her eyes and who's fists were still clenched with her knuckles an unhealthy white. "Meanwhile Tsunade-sama, I have heard that Sakura has been sent on no missions since we have left and considering that I have been gone and Jiraiya preoccupied with Naruto there has been no one available to train her. There has been no method for Sakura to have gotten any stronger in the time that we've been gone. And I would dare to say that I would say the same thing if Naruto had stayed behind with no means for training as well."

Liar, Inner Sakura muttered darkly as she snarled at the silver haired man. Sakura gasped slightly and reeled back from shock nearly falling over in surprise but it was missed due to Naruto's sudden and indignant yell.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei, that's mean to say."

"You're back," she mumbled under her breath as everything else faded away for just a moment. Tears threatened to gather at her eyes, of all things to fail at… she couldn't even stay herself around her old team. The person that she was supposed to be was back as a hidden personality inside her.

"I'm sorry…" her inner mind whispered.

"Did you say something Sakura?" Tsunade questioned worriedly and looked at her apprentice with sharp eyes. Tsunade saw the pain and the hurt that crossed the girl's face. Biting her lip tenderly Tsunade wondered when the last time she had heard her apprentice talk to herself was, the habit has seemed to disappear long ago. The Hokage had warned her and now it seemed like the Slug Princess was suffering more for her student than the student wished to show.

Sakura smiled up at the Hokage her eyes glistening only a little more than usual, "Kakashi-sensei has a point Tsunade-sama." The grin plastered on her face was fake.

"Fake!" Inner Sakura growled, slamming her fist into the wall of Sakura's inner mind and shook her head in indignation.

Tsunade turned back to Kakashi and glared at him harshly despite herself, "I guess this is the time that you should start acting like a sensei to your whole team you stuck up brat instead of singling one of the three out. You will be bringing her along for this mission whether you like it or not Hatake Kakashi, and I expect you, since you are so worried for her well-being, to protect her with your life."

Kakashi's eye flashed darkly and narrowed at the Hokage, "I never leave a teammate behind but it seems like you have left your sense there."

Tsunade snarled at the younger man and stood up, her chair flying back into the wall behind her. Jiraiya side stepped the flying wood and didn't dare hold the blond Hokage back although silently agreeing with the copy nin. "You insolent… I'm the Hokage, your whole team is just brimming with little brats!"

Sakura couldn't suppress the laugh that burst from her throat, but it had managed to stop Tsunade from breaking her sensei's neck, "Sorry, sorry," she grinned madly with a wave of her hand, at least she wasn't crying. Tsunade looked at her again and stared at the males of Team 7 with contempt.

"You should rip out their entrails," Inner Sakura snarked.

"You're being too violent," Sakura laughed talking to two women at the same time.

"You are all dismissed," Tsunade hollered and chucked the mission scroll at Naruto who caught it with a whimper and backpedaled at the force. He seemed like he was mulling over what Kakashi had said and was glancing furiously between Sakura, Tsunade and Kakashi. Somehow Jiraiya had taught him when to keep quiet, although at times the Sannin didn't know when to do that himself.

"Tsunade, calm down." Tsunade turned on her team member and glared at him. He shivered and backed off.

All four members of Team 7 turned around to leave the room before Tsunade spoke once more, "Sakura I want you to stay for another moment please. And you," Tsunade turned her chair around to face the Frog Sannin, "out with the rest."

Kakashi walked outside of the office and watched as the other three men followed, Shizune looked up at him surprised by the frustration crinkling at the corner of his eyes before slipping into the Hokage's office and shutting the door behind her. Kakashi tried to listen into what the three women were discussing inside but it seemed like the office had been sound proofed… 'Better sound proofed', he noted, 'since I've been gone'. Kakashi's eyes narrowed dangerously, 'that's strange there had never been any need to sound proof the Hokage's office so well in the past'. Something had changed while he was gone, he just didn't know what.

_Enough_

Sakura stirred her ramen around in her bowl taking a bite every minute or so before stirring the ramen around once again. She tried her hardest to ignore the boys sitting beside her, but the effort was futile. Naruto was still all too loud and Kakashi seemed as though he wasn't even trying to be discreet. "The bastard…" Inner Sakura hissed.

'Shush now…'

Naruto zipped through his third bowl of the meal he had missed so much in his two years of training but still managed to snatch a glance at Sakura in his devouring process. "Mou, Kakashi, why did you have to go and say that while Sakura-chan was there?"

Kakashi shrugged, "But don't you agree with me Naruto, you wouldn't want her to get hurt just because we…" the pause was infinite as all three men looked down at their food and paused in their stuffing. The conversation was kept low so that others wouldn't be able to hear outside the stand, but Sakura could hear everything just as she suspected Kakashi wanted. She resisted the urge to snap her chopsticks in half.

"You're right," Sasuke managed to grind out, "but saying that with Sakura there did not help with getting Tsunade to agree to not allow her to go. Tsunade has her pride as a kunoichi and she wishes to pass that on to others."

Kakashi nodded, "We were going to leave at sunrise tomorrow, there was no other time to have it said. I just thought that Tsunade would have been more practical in her decision making."

Naruto and Sasuke nodded and Kakashi smiled at the blond, "You have grown Naruto, no longer defending Sakura like an idiot."

"I am defending Sakura-chan, sensei. I don't want her to get hurt…"

A slam was heard as the three men looked up at the furious kunoichi as she turned her eyes toward them. "I…" she managed to splutter, "Do you think that I can't hear you?" Silence ensued, "I'm out of here. I'll see you tomorrow morning Naruto, Sasuke-kun, Kakashi-sensei." She turned around and stormed off down the street. Kakashi and Sasuke noted that she didn't travel her usual way home.

"Mou, mou! Sakura-chan," Naruto wailed, "I could have eaten that! You didn't need to sacrifice a poor bowl of good ramen!"

_Enough_

Sakura lay on her bed, curled in her sheets and sobbed softly. "It's okay," she muttered to herself as she grasped the sheets and ran them through her fingers, "it's okay. You aren't weak, you aren't weak, they just don't know, they just don't know…"

"Breathe Sakura…" Sakura sobbed harder at the voice of her inner mind, despite its intention, just its presence was detrimental to her confidence.

She curled into a smaller ball as tears ran down her cheeks. Two years was what she had had. Two years of utter and complete happiness. Two years of feeling like she was never going to be left behind again, of never having to feel like the one that was left behind. And in a matter of moments all of that was gone. And to think, all those two years she had thought that having them there would've made her existence complete.

She had missed her team. There were nights when she had dreamed of them and their childish antics when they had been younger, more innocent, but now she knew, knew that all of those dreams were just that, they were lies.

Her eyes flashed open as she heard a rustle from her window and she span up to hold a kunai up to the neck of the one who was leaning over her bed. Her arm relaxed when she identified who it was that had come to her this night.

"I heard what happened, Sakura," Genma muttered as he sat cross-legged beside her bed and pushed her shoulders back down onto the sheets.

Sakura coughed and spluttered before more tears began to run down her face. Her hands clutched onto his sleeves tightly as she rubbed at her glossy emerald orbs and she rolled over to face one of the only two men to know of her power. "Genma… I didn't think it could feel any worse… I didn't think that they could make it worse."

"Shh, shh, go to sleep Sakura. Tomorrow morning is going to be a trying day for you. Go to sleep, I'll chase away your bad dreams. I'll remind you that what they say isn't always what they mean; I'll tell the monsters in your dreams that you can tear apart a mountain with your fist. They'll run scared then, they won't fight you then… they won't leave you behind then."

"All the good men in this world are taken," Inner Sakura sighed.

Sakura smiled and closed her eyes. Genma had somehow seen her monsters, "Thank you…"

"Just go to sleep Sakura."

_Enough_

The next morning when Sakura had woken up she found that Genma had stayed the night and had fallen asleep on the carpet. She smiled as she saw that he wasn't the only one who was there. Shizune had joined him as well, it seemed like she had come in the night just as he had.

Sakura took her blanket and laid it over the couple gently as not to wake them as she grabbed her clothes and jumped into the shower. She had one hour before sunrise and probably three before Kakashi dared to show up. Sakura sighed; although tempted to arrive late she would arrive on time anyways. It had irked her too much to show up late when she had tried that tactic several times back in the day.

After her shower she hustled around her apartment as quickly as possible grabbing all her needed gear. She paused at the dining room table where two used glasses sat and a package with them. Scrawled neatly in handwriting was her name in Shizune's print and the words "from Tsunade".

Sakura grabbed the package and stuffed it into a safe compartment in her bag. She peaked back into her bedroom and grinned as she saw that Genma was now holding Shizune in her sleep. His deep brown eyes looked up at her and they whispered what his words couldn't 'good luck, don't give in.'

Stepping outside of her apartment she saw that the sky was turning pink but the sun had yet to rise. She closed the door behind her and hopped down the three stories and landed swiftly on the ground. She swung her bag on her shoulder and began walking toward the east gate. The pink hues reflected off of her hair and her skin, coloring her entirety with pink. The warmth of the rising sun heated her cold cheeks and she smiled, "Don't give in…"

Sakura approached the gate and saw that no one else had arrived. But it didn't take more than a minute before Sasuke had appeared with a nod and Naruto ran in with a blubbering sigh, his nightcap still situated on his head. Only five minutes later Kakashi showed up and Sakura realized just how much Kakashi didn't want her on this mission.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"If by back, you mean here, and by here, you mean you and by you're, you mean me which in turn really means you, then yes, I guess you could say I'm back."

"Monsters teme, what monsters are she talking about? If the Akatsuki are haunting her dreams, I'll tear them apart bit by bit."

"No Sakura, I'm not disappointed in you, never disappointed in you. I'm disappointed in myself."

"While the boys wake up I'm going to go fill these at the river."

"That's strange, I could have sworn that mine was full."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

Third chapter. This was one of the harder chapters to write because I can't get the feelings one hundred percent right. Hopefully they were communicated okay though because yah, writing Sakura like this is hard. Writing Kakashi like that was harder O-o I'm such a Kakashi fan but it was needed and hopefully Kakashi isn't seen ahahahaha too badly.

Inner Sakura makes a huge showcase in this chapter but in my first draft she barely even appeared. Hopefully what she represents is constantly defined.

There are a lot of chapter splices...I hope that doesn't bother anyone...As a warning, the chapters only get longer from here on out.


	4. Separate

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: Thank you so much for the reviews everyone! Please keep them coming, it helps get the updates out quicker :D

* * *

Chapter 4: Separate

Sakura kept herself inside her own head as she strolled along the path that her boys were taking, no one seemed very interested in trying to talk to her anyways. Pakkun had joined them at the gates of Konoha and his nose was still buried deeply into the soft ground trying to find a smidgen of Akatsuki to track.

Sakura found it absolutely ridiculous that they were still on the main road searching for the scent of the Akatsuki. She believed that even the mass and powerful organization was not foolish enough to travel out in daylight so close to a hidden village as powerful as Konoha. Two Sannin were more than enough to take out at least three members of the Akatsuki in a relatively fair fight. What they should have been doing was scouting out the forests and the caves in the area, places of residence that weren't permanent and would allow for quick movement.

Sakura scoffed her shoe into the dirt and bit her lip; she wasn't going to comment though. She didn't want to be heard and she knew that she wasn't going to be heard either.

"So you're back?" Sakura asked quietly to the only person she knew would listen to her at the moment. It was depressing, but it was true. She didn't even have to imagine the swirls of color in front of her anymore.

"If by back, you mean here, and by here, you mean you and by you're, you mean me which in turn really means you, then yes, I guess you could say I'm back," Inner Sakura yawned as she stretched out in the confines of Sakura's mind and stared up at the sky in a daze. Earlier Inner Sakura had worn out all of her energy screaming bloody murder at the three boys, but as always, Inner Sakura wasn't very effective without the participation of outer Sakura.

Sakura scrunched her nose wondering how there could be something akin to a sky within her inner mind.

"Why are you back?" Sakura asked.

"Tut, so many obvious questions today Sakura," Inner Sakura murmured, "you know why."

Sakura nodded to herself as she looked up from her mind and observed the world around her. The Akatsuki were in Fire Country, but they weren't close by. She was sure that if they had been, the birds wouldn't be singing and the bugs wouldn't be whistling their quiet song from among the trees and the shrubs.

Feeling as though she was safe to put herself back into her mind Sakura continued her conversation with her other self. "You're surprisingly subdued."

"Just because I'm back doesn't mean that I'm the same as before. Some of me was left behind in you, you know? Despite what you seem to think, you have changed."

"So you are me, and I am you?"

Inner Sakura laughed, "No, I am you and you are you. Do you understand?"

Sakura grimaced, "Sure, if you say so…"

Inner Sakura grinned, "When I'm gone…you will know that you're happy. You know that."

"Stop talking in circles, I don't talk in circles, you should stop talking in circles," Sakura muttered.

"Ah, ah, don't get your panties in a twist," Inner Sakura laughed with a quirked eyebrow. "Are you happy?" Inner Sakura asked her ears twitching in anticipation. She got off her back and lent on her elbows as she stared at Sakura. Sakura tried to sort out the logistics of her mind, but gave up quite instantly as Inner Sakura's stare only managed to get deeper. Taking in a deep sigh Sakura shook her head and withdrew from her mind again.

Sakura looked up at her team silently, "No" Sakura muttered before she could stop herself, "but its not because of them, its because of what they don't know," it was a false act of recovery on her part.

Inner Sakura smiled ruefully, "And knowledge is power. You know so you have the power, and they have no power even if they believe that they have the power. See we're smarter because unlike Sasuke-kun, we learned that without Kakashi-sensei's help!"

"I'm going to put you away now."

"Humph, meanie."

Sakura looked up from the ground and listened to her surroundings again. The birds were still singing and the bugs were still playing their quiet song among the leaves and branches of the tall trees. The wind swept her pink hair over her shoulders and the sunlight warmed her face with its pleasant rays. Sakura sighed in contentment as she lifted her chin so that her whole face was bathed in the light. Sakura smiled again as she set her eyes before her and then frowned. The sunlight couldn't even work its usual magic for her.

Backs…all she could see were backs. Three backs of three people all somehow decked out in jounin fighting gear. She was still in her red shirt, black shorts, beige skirt, fingerless gloves, elbow protectors and comfy sandals. 'Not only do I not belong, I clash', Sakura thought darkly.

Sasuke had grown taller, his face softer in complexion, harder in angles and his stance much more relaxed then in the past. His hair was still styled the same as always, but he looked much better in the jounin vest that he had in his high collared shirt from youth. Kakashi had done wonders for the hard strung boy; he had turned from a machine of vengeance into what could have past as any scarred shinobi of Konoha.

Naruto had changed, though he hadn't changed much in personality. If anything he was more hyperactive, more rowdy, but he was thoughtful in his actions. His stance was tall and confident, his height only emphasizing that fact. He talked as though his mind contained knowledge, he spoke with sincerity, but Sakura knew that inside Naruto would never truly change. She congratulated Jiraiya in what she considered to be an impossible feat up until now; he had made Naruto… even better. He would become the best Hokage Konoha would ever have; she was sure about that fact. Naruto had gone through everything and had survived.

Kakashi-sensei, was still Kakashi-sensei. He seemed all knowing and all doing, his posture lazy but irrevocably confident. There wasn't much to say about him, although Sakura had never been on Kakashi's bad side until today and she could say very well that she never wanted to be Kakashi's enemy. He hadn't said a word to her since twenty-four hours ago when they had left the village.

Pakkun suddenly veered off of the main road with something akin to a bark and into the forest trails. She didn't think that Pakkun was the type of dog to bark, but after twenty-four hours of nothing, maybe she would bark too. His nose, it seemed, had caught something that was familiar enough to be Akatsuki-ish. Sakura grinned as they flew into the canopy and began to hop from tree to tree. She loved the power that coursed through her chakra-enhanced feet as she ran, but no one seemed to notice the minute difference. She told herself that she didn't care.

Night had fallen by the time that Pakkun had picked up a solid scent. They had travelled quickly through the forest but not as quickly as she knew her teammates could have gone. They had only gone the distance they would have gone had they been twelve year old, over achieving genins, the skill level Sakura had been before they had left her. With a start she realized they were slowing down for her! They didn't need to slow down for her; she could run faster; she could go farther.

Kakashi had called it a night when Pakkun had deemed the trail so distinct that it was impossible to lose. They needed their rest for the battle with the four Akatsuki members.

They were going to take the night watch in pairs as the Akatsuki were not to be taken lightly and somehow Naruto had argued enough to end up with Sasuke, which left Sakura with her old sensei. They had decided to take the second watch or technically Sakura had demanded that they would.

Pakkun gave Sakura a curious stare and trotted up to her with a raised head and quirked doggy eyebrows. "Hello Pakkun," Sakura muttered as she kneeled down and patted the dog on the head.

"No one talked to you today Sakura," Pakkun replied with a pleased growl, "I don't know why. You were always my favorite."

"Really now?"

"Yah, you've always kept up with the boys despite their advantages," Pakkun stated kindly as he pushed his ears into her hands.

Sakura giggled, "Shh, don't be so loud, they aren't supposed to know."

Pakkun's eyebrows furrowed, "Alright… if that is how you want it, but it seems unfair."

Sakura frowned when the ears in her hands disappeared and there was only smoke left over. "Not everything in life is fair." She looked up into the curious eyes of one Hatake Kakashi before she looked away and grabbed the sleeping roll from her backpack.

Sakura curled up in her sleeping bag and zipped it up fully. The package that Tsunade and Shizune had given her was tightly clutched to her stomach as she let her breathing even out and her mind and body relax. She wasn't in a full state of sleep but the state was serving its purpose. Absolute awareness, Tsunade had taught her that.

_"I'll chase away your bad dreams. I'll remind you that what they say isn't always what they mean; I'll tell the monsters in your dreams that you can tear apart a mountain with your fist. They'll run scared then, they won't fight you then…they won't leave you behind then,"_ Sakura murmured in her half state of sleep as she curled into a tighter ball keeping the package as close to her as possible. Tears raced down her face, but she could feel them no more.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other as they observed their comrade from their look out positions in the trees. "Did we do this to her?" Naruto asked as he faced the starry night sky, his crisp blue eyes glowing.

"Hn, dobe," muttered Sasuke as he glanced at the girl who had loved him for at least half a decade of her life.

"Che, teme, too scared to answer the question? Who's the scaredy cat now?" Naruto ground out and crossed his arms over his chest with a huff. He got no reply from the Uchiha and turned back down to observe the pink haired teammate that they had left two year ago. "But… did we really leave her behind?"

"I don't know…" He tried to act like he didn't care, he sincerely did, but Kakashi had ingrained within him a sense of companionship that had been lacking two years previous. Now as he looked at the pink strands and heard the words coming out of her moving lips, he actually worried.

"Monsters teme, what monsters are she talking about? If the Akatsuki are haunting her dreams, I'll tear them apart bit by bit."

"Itachi is still mine."

"Keh, I get the rest then cause I can defeat all of them while you tear apart just one teme. Let's see who Sakura-chan likes more then!"

From below the canopy a smile ghosted on Sakura's lips as she overheard the conversation taking place above her, "Monsters… you're all monsters… just monsters…" She shifted and held the package closer to her than before as silence from the boys floated into her ears.

She wasn't oblivious to Kakashi's actions either. He was just about as asleep as she was and she suspected that Sasuke knew, but chose to ignore this fact. Either that or Sasuke hadn't been trained in the ways of the shinobi as much as in the emotional factors; Sakura back pedaled, that could have been the case. However, it would have been endearing that Kakashi was sleeping so close to her, and shifting closer still, only if it didn't mean that he just thought of her to be weak and one who needed protection. Sakura scowled in her sleep and clutched tighter at her package, it was all that mattered now.

Three and a half hours later Sakura woke up along with Kakashi. The two boys jumped down from the canopy and crawled into their sleeping bags. They were out before Sakura could even secure herself into Sasuke's old spot.

Kakashi sat several trees away from her and he looked like he was in a different world all together. Sakura knew better though, she knew that her sensei would never let his guard down. And she was right, "Sakura…" she heard him murmur.

"What is it sensei?" Sakura asked just as quietly, beyond him her voice would sound like the wind.

"Why did you accept the mission?" He sounded defeated as though he had fought a long hard, but losing battle with himself, "I know you are smarter than this and that you have always understood your limits…"

'And hated them', Sakura thought.

"So why are jumping into a fight with an organization as dangerous as the Akatsuki when you have nothing to back up your fight? Why are you risking not only your life but the lives of those on your whole team?" Kakashi asked, his voice almost having a bitter tone to it. However, in no way was his speech accusing and Sakura felt herself grow amused by her sensei's absolute control, "I thought you better than a child Sakura, I guess I thought wrong." Again all she could hear was defeat, but this time it merely angered her.

Sakura let the wind whistle in her pause before she whispered gently, "I'm not a child anymore Kakashi-sensei and I'm sorry that I'm such a disappointment to you, such a terrible… disappointment." Sakura tried not to spit out the last word.

Kakashi nearly laughed before placing his face into the palm of his hand and groaning out between his words, "No Sakura, I'm not disappointed in you, never disappointed in you. I'm disappointed in myself." He registered her shifting in her position in order to hear his words better and he took in a long deep breath, "I was your sensei, I never should have left you at this point. I should have never let you…wilt, you were just a bud and in my misunderstanding I took you as a weed. I left you behind Sakura, you didn't get left behind, I… I pushed you behind."

A sense of calm slowly washed over her being as she took in deep breaths of air and registered his words. 'Kakashi-sensei had never wanted to be hurtful; he was just trying to deal. Like how Shishou deals with sake…' she convinced herself because he was Kakashi, the man who had protected her from the very start. Sakura smiled and reach her arm out at him knowing that they were much too far to touch, "It's okay sensei. I'll bloom someday, I'll get my water, my time to shine and you'll see me bloom… someday."

Kakashi looked at her and smiled, his eyes crinkling. "Sakura, when we get back from this mission," because Kakashi did not deal in ifs when it came to his teammates, "I'll train with you. I'll show you all that you should know, all that I should have taught you long ago other than climbing trees and walking on water. When we get back Sakura, I will be the sensei that I haven't been for the three years we've known each other."

Sakura smiled and nodded, opting not to say anymore. She couldn't say anymore, not to this man who had already lost so much. She turned away from Kakashi and stared up at the night sky. The birds and the bugs were singing in the darkness and so Sakura began to shift and cause a small racket. It would disguise her future movements and only further Kakashi's guilt in her lack of tact; Sakura, after all, was still human and so very bitter.

Unwrapping her package slowly she took out its contents and stuffed them into the pockets of her beige skirt under the impression of scratching at her thigh. She left one of the contents of the package out of her skirt and opened the container quietly. The sound blended in with the breeze, but she made a show of sniffing it like lotion anyways because Kakashi was still the famous copy nin all in all. She smeared the contents of the container on her arms and on her legs. She scrunched her nose at the distinct smell knowing that Kakashi would not be able to tell what it was exactly. Closing the container she placed it into her pocket with the rest and grabbed the packaging that the contents had come in.

Sakura stood up on her branch and passed her eyes over the dark expanse of earth and sky. The bugs had stopped singing into the night.

"Isn't it about time that we wake up the other two Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura peaked at him from the corner of her eye and she could tell that he was wearing a frown on his face. Her mission had been successful.

Kakashi looked at the sky and nodded before jumping down the branches of the tree to reach the ground. Sakura followed suit and pretended to stumble on the ground. They had not made a fire last night as not to give away their position during the invasion of darkness. Sakura walked around the camp looking, searching for anything that would help her. She spotted them, all piled up into a corner.

"While the boys wake up I'm going to go fill these at the river," Sakura grinned as she pointed at the canteens that were hanging off of her arm. Kakashi nodded as Sakura turned around and walked to the river's edge. She cursed as she stepped into a small puddle and scolded herself for being so absentminded. Turning back to see if Kakashi had noticed her mistake she continued to the river, her shoe squeaking slightly from the fresh mud.

Sakura went past the trees, she ducked under the branches, she maneuvered through the bushes and then she came upon the rushing sounds of the river. She dropped the canteens on the ground and opened the pockets in her beige skirt. Shizune was brilliant in her design of clothing, it had seemed like nothing was added to her skirt, the pockets always looked chunky and full.

Grabbing the wrapper and the card that had been taped on to it, she threw both of them into the river. She watched as the paper dissolved in the harsh flow of the current. Yamato was a brilliant man, he knew the nature of wood too well, and paper for missions such as this had always been his forte. Sakura at times wondered if her Shishou had kept the man around only for this very reason.

Sakura reached into her pocket and dug out the empty container. She smashed the glass on the ground and buried the shards in the dirt. If she were lucky then the shards would appear on some beach later on in life and delight a collector of beach glass, or if she wasn't lucky she would tear apart some poor person's perfect skin. "Oh well," Sakura hummed as she grabbed the first canteen and began filling it with the running water. She took great care in not letting her arms and legs get splashed, all her effort would have been for nothing otherwise.

When the first two canteens were filled and she only had two left, Sakura began to fear that her efforts were going to waste. But in moments she grinned, nothing it was not.

_Separate_

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm tired," Naruto complained as he groaned and wiped at his eyes. He slowly rolled out of his sleeping bag and pushed himself to his knees.

Sasuke rolled his onyx orbs as he rolled up the sleeping bag he had been using the previous night. He tied together the string that kept the sleeping bag attached to his backpack and leant his massive bag against a tree. He gathered the rest of his things and placed them into his bag carefully. "Oi dobe, did you take my canteen again?"

Naruto scoffed as he threw his things into his bag, a pile of missed objects forming around the base. "Why would I want to take your canteen, just because you took mine?"

Kakashi sat at the base of a tree and stared at his comrades with a small smile, it had been a long time. His bag was already fully packed; he was a light traveler. Sakura's pack was already done as well although it seemed much fuller than any time in the past. He really hoped that she hadn't lost that essential skill during his two years of absence. Sakura after all had always been a light packer just like him. "Sakura took both of your canteens."

"Why would Sakura-chan do thaattt?" Naruto gurgled as he turned to face Kakashi. He was now tossing the missed objects into his bag reducing the pile exponentially.

"She's filling them up at the river as we speak."

Sasuke's eyebrows pulled up, "That's strange, I could have sworn that mine was full."

Kakashi's eyebrow rose in alarm, but they didn't have time to dwell on it. An explosion set off less than four feet away from Naruto's head.

"Yeah, and they call themselves shinobi," a voice called down from the sky as the smoke cleared and Naruto wiped at the dirt that had smeared across his face. Sasuke had pulled Naruto out of the way by his armpits in the nick of time and both boys lay sprawled in the dirt coughing.

Looking up, Kakashi saw that the man who had spoken had long blonde hair tied up high on his head and was sitting on what seemed to be a giant bird. Two more shinobi clutched onto the top of the trees that were adjacent to the flying bird. "Deidara, Hoshigaki Kisame and…"

"Itachi," Sasuke ground out as his hand began to glow blue, the sound of a thousand birds filling in the silence that had ensued with the presence of the Akatsuki.

"Sasuke stop, don't waste it just yet," Kakashi ordered loud enough for his student to hear but not those that were above them. "Wait…one, two, three…where's four…? There are supposed to be four of you."

Itachi's red eyes swirled and he looked out to the sky with an oddly familiar smirk. "Ah…Sasori," and as the words were spoken, something akin to a massive explosion came from the direction of the river.

"SAKURA!"

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Who do you think made the antidote for the Kazekage's brother?"

"Better? I'm not dead, that can't be good for you."

"Watching them I also know everything that I need to know about you Sakura-san. The monsters that haunt you… The people that leave you, the fears that you have, the true power that you wield."

"You know nothing!"

"I am a puppeteer, Sakura-san. I manipulate beings to my liking, that's why I could see right through you the moment I met you. Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki, we can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

I love the interaction that goes on between Inner Sakura and outer Sakura. It's freaking crazy what you can do with those two. Anyways, lots of stuff happens in this chapter that will be important for the future to make things make sense.

Kakashi was once again a hard character to write because I wanted to communicate the fact that he wasn't totally horrible (although a bit of a jerk) and that we can't necessarily blame him for his actions because he simply just does not know. The reoccurring theme of knowledge happens a lot in this chapter as well...

I love Pakkun. He's so cute. I think he has more of a personality at the moment than Sasuke... which is uncool. Need to work on that part...

Finally, the Akatsuki have appeared too. I know that a lot of you were waiting for this very moment! I hope you enjoyed the story so far.


	5. Puppeteer

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: Thank you so much for the reviews everyone! Those reviews make my day all the time, so if you read, please review, even if its a simple hello!

* * *

Chapter 5: Puppeteer

_"You need to DODGE them Sakura!" Tsunade shouted as she leaned against a tree and stared at her student while scowling up a storm. Her arms were crossed and taut lips were marring her young face._

_ "I am dodging them Shishou!" Sakura screamed as she twirled and hissed as one senbon grazed her arm. She leapt into the air and managed to dodge about ten more while being grazed by another two. Sakura growled in exasperation as another volley of senbon came her way. Out of frustration she grabbed one of them out of midair and flung it back at the wielder. Three more grazed her in the process. The wielder just laughed and tilted his head to dodge the weapon._

_ "Although it would have been great if you had hit the idiot… that is not called dodging, dodging is when you don't let the weapon hit you at all! It's not about whether the weapon is fatal at the moment Sakura, its about if the weapon is poisoned later on. DODGE!"_

_Genma grinned as he continued to flick his wrist sending out another bout of senbon at the pink haired girl who screamed in frustration and proceeded to slip on the ground and land face first. No senbon hit her that time. _

_"That was terrible dodging…"_

_"Tsunade, I'm so glad that I was never your apprentice, I feel bad for Shizune if this is what you had put her through."_

_Tsunade turned on him and narrowed her eyes, "You are not allowed to talk about my assistant, never, ever, at all. Understand you brat?"_

_Genma shrugged and grinned, "You can't tell me that when I get the ring on her finger you know. That's just plain cruel to prevent me from talking about my beautiful fiancée."_

_Sakura stood back up and took in a deep breath before she collapsed from the five hour exertion and began hallucinating from the stress of the exercise, she had to of been, because the next thing she remembered was Genma SKIPPING away from the training ground laughing merrily as Tsunade tried to put a hole through his chest. _

_Sakura gulped, 'Tsunade was not one to target her anger at the one she was mad at.' _

_Just as the thought crossed her mind Tsunade stomped up to her, picked her up by the shoulder and screeched, "AND I SAID DODGE!"_

_The next day Sakura had gone through the same experience. Genma, the best senbon wielder in Konoha chucking the weapons at her to kill and she could not just get killed, but she couldn't even get grazed. By the end Sakura moaned to Shizune while she assisted in healing her wounds about how cruel Shishou was. Shizune just laughed while glancing up at the senbon wielder who was apparently still skipping around the training ground dodging Tsunade's wrath. Sakura turned it on her when she noticed the shining object, "IS THAT A RING?"_

_The day after training was cancelled, it seemed like Genma had been put out of commission for a short period of time. _

_The day after that Genma took his revenge by adding another 'motivational' factor to her training._

_By the end of that day Sakura was puking up all her stomach contents on the training ground floor. The light poison he had tipped his needles with, provided by his wonderful fiancée, had made their point and Sakura started to reduce the number of needle scars to nothing. Even just the next day she had received only four pricks, not enough to have her kneeling over at the training ground or at the Hokage's office, but enough to make her run home as fast as she could to dry heave over a toilet._

_Genma had eventually forgiven her for all of his broken bones when she told him how to get back on Shizune's good side after a small fight between the two that had lasted for about two weeks. "The couch…I need to get off of the couch…" Since then he had been her big brother and continued to keep her on her toes by throwing senbon at her at random times._

It was times like that that Sakura remembered as she dodged the multitudes of poisoned senbon aimlessly going at her. She listened to the tell tale swooshing sounds that all senbon made and maneuvered her body skillfully to flip and twist between the poisoned weapons. This was much easier compared to Genma's go for the kill attacks. Sakura sighed as the number of senbon began to reduce until it seemed that the enemy in front of her had no more left to launch. She turned to face the large puppet in front of her still in the position to quickly dodge if found neccessary. "I'm going to assume that you are the Akasuna no Sasori that tried to kill the Kazekage's brother."

"I am pleased that you have heard of me.

"Yes, something about puppets was mentioned out of the Kazekage's brother's mouth before he fainted from the poison extraction. Your grandmother Chiyo-sama decided to tell me what the puppet thing meant. I know a lot about you Akasuna no Sasori and the puppet, Hiruko that you wield around you."

"So that is where you received the poison dripping from your skin. I was worried that someone was using my work of art for their own petty pleasures," Sasori replied within the confines of his favorite defensive puppet. His voice was echoed in the wood, but his tone still held an infallible pride.

Sakura scoffed, "You call a poison that stumped all of the medics in Suna a work of art? You really are something aren't you?"

"You are wearing my work of art, are you not? I assume there has to be some manner of appreciation there for you to don something as deadly."

"I just find its smell magnificent, good to lure curious Akatsuki out of the dark."

Sasori sighed, "The Kazekage's brother is dead then I assume?"

Sakura laughed, "I said that the poison stumped the medics in Suna. I never said anything more than that. But no, to answer your question, he is very much alive."

She could feel the glare that came from the person hiding within the puppet, "That poison was an elite mixture of rare proteins that no normal medic would be able to decipher and create an antidote for, even the slightest mistake could've been fatal."

"Good thing that I don't tolerate mistakes then," Sakura grinned as she cracked her knuckles.

"Over-confident girl," Sasori muttered.

Sakura's eyes narrowed, "You're one to say, trying to blind sight a poor kunoichi while she was filling her canteens with water." She glanced at where the river had been and noticed that most of it was now flowing into a shallow crater before flowing up and out the other side.

"You are no poor kunoichi."

Sakura tossed her head to look back up at him with fierce green eyes, "Indeed."

And the fighting began.

_Puppeteer_

'I have to get to Sakura', was the only thing that was going through Kakashi's mind as he faced off with Hoshigaki Kisame and his monstrous sword, the Samehada.

The blue skinned missing-nin with the silver eyes grinned at him with what only could be described as jagged shark's teeth. "So you are the copy-nin, Hatake Kakashi," Kisame inquired as he hefted his sword off of his back and held it in front of him. He balanced himself on the large weapon with a lazy blink of his eyes, but Kakashi wasn't foolish, he know that the missing-nin could use it as a weapon within a moments notice. Kakashi didn't reply to what Kisame had to say and instead diverted his attention to getting around the shinobi. "Don't insult me Hatake Kakashi, I know your weakness and I know that you aren't taking me seriously as an enemy at the moment." Kisame chimed merrily, "But you will be when I give you no jutsu to copy!"

Kisame dove at the copy-nin who counteracted the actions swiftly with a simple kunai. Kakashi flickered his eyes back to Kisame and slowly lifted his hitae-ate away from his sharingan eye as he dodged the shark's second attack by flipping backwards and landing on his feet; he knew that he would need Obito's eye for this particular foe. Hoshigaki Kisame was right; he was someone that was not to be taken lightly. However, his mind was still on one thing. Sakura.

_Puppeteer_

Naruto spluttered from the ground as more dirt was tossed into his face and flying vegetation smacked him on the head from all angles. The explosions didn't stop around him and all he could see where flashing lights. Gladly enough they were easy enough to dodge for the kyuubi. "Is the only thing you can do is get hit, yeah?" Deidara inquired as he sat cross-legged on his giant flying creation. His eyebrow was raised at Naruto as the boy hoped and jumped around the trees fruitlessly trying to reach him in the sky.

Naruto glared at the bomb user and burst out of the ground again only to be doused with more exploding creations which barely affected him. Deidara clicked his tongue in annoyance, he had already upped the ante on the boy several times and his creations were still not injuring the kyuubi. "I'm going to tear you limb from limb and then I'm going to get to Sakura-chan!"

"Sakura-chan? The one Sasori no danna is fighting against?" Deidara laughed as he flicked his finger and sent another creation at Naruto's forehead, "Yeah, you won't be getting to her before Sasori no danna is finished, un. As much as I hate to admit it, Sasori no danna is probably stronger than me. Too bad he does not understand the true concept of art, yeah."

"Art?" Naruto roared as suddenly thousands of copies of him burst through the trees and rose up high to meet with the Akatsuki member. Deidara grinned as his hands chewed and manipulated through his clay for the oncoming attack. It was finally getting interesting.

Deidara nodded, "Yeah, beauty…" he flung his arm out over the edge of his bird, "is fleeting…" With that a multitude of explosions lit up the sky and all of clones were gone, including Naruto. "Tch, he went and got himself killed already, yeah. What a disappointment."

"Rasengan!"

_Puppeteer_

Sasuke and Itachi merely looked at each other through the trees. Nothing registered for the two brothers, not the explosions or the other sharingan that was in the vicinity. Spinning tomoe clashed against spinning tomoe. "You…have less hatred in you little brother…" Itachi stated serenely as he brushed his long hair to the side of his face with an agile flick of his wrist. His tone was drab and his stance seemed uninterested in the boy in front of him.

Sasuke growled, "Hate is not going to get me anywhere with you brother. I have hated you for fourteen years of my life and not once did I see you, look you in the eye, but now we are here. The year I stop the hate and simply just desire the kill, I see you face to face." It wasn't exactly what Kakashi had tried to drill into his head in the two years they had trained together, but it was as good as Kakashi was ever going to get out of the young Uchiha.

Itachi blinked slowly before scoffing in distaste, "You also speak too much little brother."

Sasuke grinded his teeth together, "I want to know Itachi, why?" But Kakashi had succeeded in some respects.

Itachi raised his eyebrows, "You come face to face with me, the man who had slaughtered our whole family in cold blood, and what you ask is why? I am truly disappointed now. I cannot believe what you have become little brother."

"I want the truth."

"You don't need the truth. All you need is power and the hate to defeat me, something that you do not have. Something that you have now lost."

"Fine... I don't need the fucking truth from you. But then it will just have to suffice to kill you!" The sound of a thousand birds filled the air.

_Puppeteer_

_Sakura followed Tsunade out to the training field for the first time since she had asked the Hokage to be her mentor. "Shishou, what are we doing out here?" Sakura asked with an innocent bounce to her step. It had been six months; six months of painfully grueling hard work in healing. "Are you going to make me find injured rabbits to go and heal or…" Sakura didn't manage to finish her sentence before a rift was torn through the ground. _

_Sakura fell on her butt and stared at the once beautiful training ground that had now turned into a cragged and rocky expanse. "If you want to Sakura, you can go and find injured rabbits to heal. I'm sure there are a couple littering the out skirts of the training ground now or you could stay here with me and learn how to do this," Tsunade gestured to the scene before them before turning back to look at her apprentice._

_Sakura scuttled on her hands and knees to stand back up again. She looked into her Shishou's burning eyes, "I want to stay here and learn with you," Sakura stated confidently, 'and then maybe find the rabbits when we're done,' Sakura thought. Tsunade couldn't help but marvel at the change that had taken place in the pink haired girl. "But Shishou, even you have already declared that I am not very good at taijutsu. How can I do that," Sakura lifted one finger and traced it over the horizon, "if I don't have the experience of hand to hand combat?"_

_Tsunade smirked, "Sakura, you are correct, you suck at taijutsu and you have no experience but experience will come to you in time and experience can only come with knowledge, so let me start you off with this. Concentrate chakra into your hand as though you were about to heal a rabbit."_

_Sakura stared at her as though she had gone crazy, "But I thought you said…"_

_"Don't you dare question me Haruno!"_

_Sakura squeaked, it was never a good thing when her Shishou referred to her by her last name. She concentrated her healing chakra into her hand and held it up for her Shishou to see the green glow. Tsunade nodded, it was flawless. "Disperse it." Sakura did so immediately. Tsunade pointed behind her with a thumb, now I want you to scale that rock behind me, the one with the smooth surface," Sakura peeked over the Hokage's shoulder to determine which one her Shishou was talking about, "And I want you to do it with just your hands."_

_Sakura nodded eagerly and jumped on and around the rubble that Tsunade had created to reach the faithful rock. Slowly Sakura touched the smooth surface and channeled her chakra to her hands instead of her feet. Letting her legs hang loose Sakura began to climb the smooth face._

_"An absolute natural," Tsunade murmured as she watched the girl reach the top in no time flat, "Come back Sakura!" Sakura hopped off of the rock and raced back to Tsunade. 'Her smile is brilliant,' Tsunade thought; 'I've never seen her smile like that before.' "I want you to concentrate your chakra into your hand like you just did to climb the rock," Sakura's hands glowed blue, "Very good. Now intensify that energy to the same degree that you use to heal deep internal injuries with."_

_Sakura stuck her tongue out from between her lips as she concentrated and redirected her chakra flow. Tsunade watched, unable to hide her amazement as the glowing blue light became just as intense as the green she had seen moments earlier. "Dispel it."_

_"Yes Shishou," Sakura sighed thinking that she had done it wrong. Her hands dropped to her side as she timidly gazed into Tsunade's sparkling orbs._

_Tsunade smiled at the young girl, "Now get it back to that intensity within an instant. Don't slowly build it up, make it immediate." Sakura did as she was told, "That's right. Now I want you to combine timing and that immediate concentration of chakra into a punch. Go destroy that rock."_

_Sakura turned around and stared as Tsunade pointed back at the rock that she had just scaled, "But Shishou, that thing is bigger…bigger…bigger than the base of the Hokage tower!"_

_"So?"_

_Sakura gulped and nodded as she hopped back to the rock. This time she was much more hesitant as she stood before the boulder and ran her fingers over it. Tsunade grinned as Sakura's hand clenched into a fist, "absolutely incredible. Getting something like this instantly. Kakashi undermined her chakra control, walking on water, tch, more like walking on vapor."_

_Tsunade watched as Sakura reeled her arm back, she was glad that her fist was made correctly, Kakashi had done something right with the girl but then Tsunade was absolutely shocked when Sakura punched the rock and then her hand glowed blue. "OW, damn it!"_

_Tsunade shook her head and squeezed her temples with her thumb and forefinger, "Of all the things to mess up on it would have to be timing, the easiest thing… always the easiest thing for you Haruno Sakura." Tsunade watched as Sakura attempted to demolish the rock several more times before taking in a deep breath. She was about to shout to the girl to stop before she further ruined her hand._

_The next second Tsunade tilted her neck as a chunk of rock flew at her face. She looked at her apprentice as Sakura grinned proudly in front of her. Tsunade looked at Sakura's bleeding knuckles and shook her head yet again. "Heal that hand of yours and then go find your stupid rabbits, you are dismissed."_

Sakura managed to finally get close enough to the body of the puppet Hiruko to land a punch. 'Timing and power,' Sakura thought as her fist connected with the wooden body that surrounded the Akatsuki member. Splinters burst from the puppet as a shadow hopped away from the chaos. Sakura span away from the wreckage as well and locker her eyes on the real face of Akasuna no Sasori.

Her eyes widened. Her feet touched the ground. Her shoes spun through the dirt. She pulled her arm back to her body. She let out a slow breath as she really took the criminal in.

"He's sexy," Inner Sakura stated bluntly.

"Shut up!"

"I do not believe that I have spoken," Sasori stated as he looked at her with his acute eyes. They were shifted down her body as though he were sizing her up differently than when he had been inside his puppet. A smirk broke over his face. Sakura's fist clenched and she gnashed her teeth together.

He had brown eyes, so plain but so… beautiful. His hair was red, red as blood and hanging around his face, fluttering around his eyes and brushing the edges of his smirk, swaying around his features with a shake of his head. His eyes and smile were feral.

"Otherwise known as sexy," Inner Sakura muttered.

"Buzz off."

"And I thought our fight was only just getting interesting," Sasori stated as his eyebrow went up into his hairline. The girl in front of him was only getting more and more interesting by the second.

"I wasn't talking to you!"

Sasori blinked, "Is that so?"

Sakura blanched as Inner Sakura swooned, "Let's make it actually interesting then."

Sasori nodded, "I'll even pull out one of my favorite puppets for you, though I have to say that it's mightily disappointing using this for a little girl." And with that statement, Sasori reached into his cloak and pulled out a scroll. Sakura's eyebrows furrowed as the scroll rolled upon and rustled in the wind. In the next instant Sasori unleashed one of his greatest weapons; Sakura realized instantly that the puppet was the missing Sandiame Kazekage.

_Puppeteer_

Sakura coughed weakly as she fell forward and cursed. "Cheap trick," she muttered darkly. Scars ran up and down her arms, blood poured onto the dirt in front of her. The ground around them had been torn up into shreds. Not a single tree had lived through the experience of the Sandiame's iron sand.

"Excellent fight, I must say. You are the longest to last so far. The only one other than the Akatsuki where I had to pull him out," Sasori paused and ran his eyes up and down her body as she lay between the thousands of iron spires that had erupted from the sky just moments before, "Ah… I'm just sad that it had to come to this. It seems as though there would have been a use for my deduction." Sasori shrugged as his eyes swept over her again and he pushed his hair out of his face with a frown, "That idea is down the drain now, it's too bad. It would have been brilliant, but you are damaged goods now, time to finish you off."

Sakura groaned as she felt the winds around her shift, the impact of the breeze got stronger and at the exact moment she surged up and smashed the Sandiame Kazekage puppet into pieces. "May you rest in pieces!" Sakura screamed in defiance as the wooden splinters flew past her face. Her green eyes glowed in boldness over her haughty smile and bored right into that of Sasori's as his frown turned into a large Cheshire grin.

Bracing herself and standing back up while watching the spires dissolve into sand, she was shocked to find Sasori directly in front of her, but not moving. "Not quite as damaged as I originally thought, but how? I am very rarely wrong in accessing my opponents."

"Who do you think made the antidote for the Kazekage's brother?" muttered Sakura darkly as she dropped the needled vial from her hands. One of her stash was gone.

"Ah, better then, all the better," a smirk continued to grace Sasori's lips as his stance relaxed. His eyes momentarily flew to the vial before returning to her green eyes.

Sakura narrowed her eyes and shifted into a defensive position, "Better? I'm not dead, that can't be good for you."

Sasori sighed, "Quite to the contrary Sakura-san."

"How do you know…?"

"I've been having other puppets of mine watch your friends. One of them is shouting your name as though it's his source for air, he's giving Deidara a hard time," Sasori answered, "Watching them, especially the desperate copy-nin, I also know everything that I need to know about you Sakura-san." Sakura stiffened, "The monsters that haunt you…" Sakura's blood ran cold; she had never expected this… this pull, "The people that leave you, the fears that you have, the true power that you wield."

"You know nothing!"

"I am a puppeteer, Sakura-san. I manipulate beings to my liking, that's why I could see right through you the moment I met you," Sakura trembled as Sasori offered a hand to her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki, we can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Sakura green eyes sparked as she gazed into the alluring eyes of Akasuna no Sasori; she had never been warned about the pull.

_Puppeteer_

Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi had ended up on the ground side by side, chests pressed into the overturned soil. They were all breathing deeply and pointlessly trying to counteract the numbing effects. Kakashi choked, clutched as his chest, and whispered, "Poison, I can't feel my limbs anymore." Naruto convulsed slightly, his face twisted in pain as the kyuubi tried to burn the toxin out of his system. Sasuke's eyes were bleeding. Both of the boys had also been poisoned. All of them had been affected by three senbon that had flown out of the trees just seconds ago.

The three Akatsuki members in front of them were not much better. Itachi clutched at his eye as blood seeped through his fingers, Kisame was hissing in pain from the burns racing across his torso and arms, and Deidara mourned his currently detached hand.

The three Akatsuki members were talking amongst each other in hisses before the shadow of the forth one appeared. "I'm going to have to go to Kakuzu no danna to get my arm reattatched, yeah."

"Think he can heal burns?"

"Unlikely, Kisame." They had halted their attacks on the three dying Konoha nin when the senbon had been unleashed.

"Yeah, Sasori no danna, where have you been?"

"What did that girl do to you? It's been ages since I've seen your true face in battle…" Kisame laughed before hissing again. Liquid was now oozing from his wounds.

Naruto groaned and tried to turn his head; he had recognized the name, the one who was supposed to be fighting Sakura. Kakashi's eyes widened in alarm as he saw the same thing both of the other men saw. Words couldn't be uttered from the trio anymore.

"What are you doing with her? Would be a more appropriate question," Itachi mumbled as his fingers twitched over his eye. The bleeding would stop by itself but the feeling was still irritating to the powerful Uchiha.

"She's ours now. Leave them be, they won't survive my poison," Sasori stated evenly before looking down at the pink haired girl, "Not without her."

The three other members nodded and stared back at the remnants of Team 7. They disappeared with a hiss of the wind.

Kakashi wanted to cry out, but he couldn't, he couldn't move his lips anymore, he couldn't make his vocal cords vibrate. But he knew, as did Naruto and Sasuke, that the one who had been clutched in Sasori's arms was none other than their unconscious Haruno Sakura.

The world turned into blackness.

Not five minutes later Pakkun emerged from the undergrowth with a bag clutched in his teeth and a note tagged onto the bag.

_"I knew you would find this Pakkun. You were the only one who believed. The will to keep your master alive is incredible. These will insure the survival of your master and my teammates; I hope you can use them properly. I'm sure you know what to do with the vials, remember to dispose of the waste in water. And remember don't tell."_

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"We have no time for waiting, for healing. If one of you two collapses, I'll carry you. If I collapse then I expect you to carry me. We can't waste time. They have Sakura-chan."

"That was mean. I accepted your offer, you didn't have to knock me out."

"You heard me, your request for a support team is denied. Your request to go retrieve Haruno Sakura is denied,"

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

Anyone notice the significance of the four scars that Sakura received from Genma? If you don't that's okay, the connection isn't severe...I guess but it would be cool to look into it none the less. Everything is actually planned when it comes to this story, something that hasn't happened so much before. So the senbon training is not only a great thing to know as a medic, but its also my way of getting past the fact that Sakura had Chiyo to help her dodge the first multitudes of senbon in the original fight for the first little bit before finally being able to read Sasori's moves on her own, plus Genma is awesome.

FINALLY. Sasori : D lots of love to Sasori...*SPOILER ALERT* I'm sad about his reappearance...that is all I have to say...he wasn't nearly as cool *END*

Again, I send my love to Pakkun...

Also, sorry for the multitudes of scene cuts - this will not be happening again...I think...


	6. Genjutsu

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: The update came early YAY. This is a good sign and it is mainly due to my wonderful reviewers! Thank you very much for everything, you guys make the story so much better!

* * *

Chapter 6: Genjutsu

"Kakashi-sensei, we have to get Sakura-chan back!" Naruto shouted and paced as his two teammates sat around a blazing campfire. His voice was still hoarse from the poison and his movements were slower than before despite the healing capabilities of the kyuubi. The antidote had turned the poison in him into harmless proteins but his injuries from the exploding works of art still minutely remained. He sat down on a log and grumbled.

Sasuke poked the fire with one of his sticks, his movement harsh and deliberate. Sparks flew into the air and the wood crackled in the night sky. His eyes flashed in the light of the orange fire, dried blood still marring his pale face. His left eye was still sealed shut from pain and bruises marked his arms and torso. "He's right Kakashi."

Kakashi looked up at the sky with his lone grey eye hiding any of hints of an expression from his students. He had slashes made from the Samehada all over his arms and the bottom part of his mask, around his neck, was slightly torn. "We need to go back to Konoha."

"But Kakashi-sensei!"

"I know Naruto!" Kakashi yelled out his voice snapping as he opened both eyes to stare at the kyuubi. The black tomoe spun as Naruto shut his mouth and stared at his normally collected sensei. The boys had been biting out at Kakashi for the past half hour and he had yet to change his mind, what made them think that he would now? Kakashi bit back his anger and reclosed the sharingan but kept his gaze on the blond, "I know Naruto, Sasuke. But you saw what happened when we tried to face them alone and that was when the numbers were even. Even if those four Akatsuki members don't join with the rest, if we were to give chase, we would still be out numbered now. Tsunade-sama _and_ us, god we're such prideful fools, were in over our heads thinking that the kyuubi, the last Uchiha and the copy-nin would be enough to face four Akatsuki members and succeed. We need to go back to Konoha and get reinforcements. If we don't, not only do we put danger on ourselves, but we put Sakura in more danger as well."

"Well spoken," Sasuke drawled sarcastically as he once again jabbed at the fire with his stick. The flames flared to life and you could see that his teeth were clenched together tightly.

"And we have got to stop doing this, we have just got to stop. The situation has already gone from bad to worse and we keep on fucking up with her!" Both of his boys looked up at him at that comment, his expression had not changed other than the harshness that had entered into his eye. "I keep on messing up with her, the end of this mission was supposed to signal change… I was supposed to reconcile with her…"

Naruto's palm bled from the four crescent shaped scars that had newly appeared on the palm of his hand, "Then why are we wasting time sitting around a dying fire. We need to go quicker! We need to go now! When we find Sakura-chan, you can get your reconciliation Kakashi-sensei, but that means we need to go!"

Sasuke looked at him with his one onyx eye, "Kakashi has a point dobe. Can you make the trip back home? Resting now is better than collapsing halfway through the journey where we don't have food and water nearby, that is why we are still here… am I right Kakashi?"

Kakashi nodded his head as his back slumped. The speech had broken him down and now he was back to the aloof looking copy-nin, but both of his boys weren't fooled. Naruto's eyes burned before he stood up and kicked the log that he had been sitting on. "We have no time for waiting, for healing. If one of you two collapses, I'll carry you. If I collapse then I expect you to carry me. We can't waste time. They have Sakura-chan," Naruto turned around and waved his fingers at the other two, "And we need to get her back!"

"Naruto…" Kakashi sighed.

"Just because we left her behind…" Naruto shouted before collapsing on the ground and holding his head in his hands, "This is because we left her behind. We should have found her; we should have done something… we should have made her stronger so that she could've survived this mission. It's because we left her behind…"

There was a long pause before rustling was heard, "Are you coming Naruto?" Sasuke asked. His bag was already on his shoulders and Kakashi was standing beside him with his own bag and Sakura's discarded one.

"We can make it back to Konoha in less than a day if we hurry," Kakashi stated with an arched crease in his revealed eye. Naruto grinned and nodded grabbing his bag. Kakashi stomped out the fire.

_Genjutsu_

"She's a genjutsu type, yeah?"

"The only other genjutsu resembling type that we have here would be you, wouldn't it be Itachi?"

"Ah."

"Is that was you saw in her Sasori no danna?"

"And much more. She will become useful for us."

"Useful? She's a fucking Konoha bitch, she can't be anything good."

"She destroyed Hiruko and the Sandiame Kazekage."

"The Sandiame?"

"Indeed."

"Still, she was on a team with my little brother. I remember her, she wasn't very impressive a couple years ago."

"That has changed."

"Is she going to be your replacement puppet Sasori no danna?"

Sakura faded back out again.

_Genjutsu_

When she faded back in again Sakura realized that she was lying down on a soft bed with crisp, white sheets covering her body. The smell of damp wood attacked her senses and she sighed. It was like the fresh smell of Konoha after a heavy rainfall. Small sounds could be heard from the other side of the room and when Sakura looked up she saw that Sasori was sitting at a table scrapping away at some wood. "You are finally awake."

Sakura pulled herself up and off the bed and rubbed at her sore neck, "That was mean. I accepted your offer, you didn't have to knock me out." Her back ached and her fists were still sore from her fight with the man who was now simply sitting before her still messing with chunks of wood.

"You let your guard down, that was your punishment and anyhow, if you had been still conscious, what would your teammates have thought?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed, "Why do you care what they would have thought if I looked like I disappeared standing beside you or knocked out?" 'They probably think I'm pathetic being taken while unconscious.'

"Do not misinterpret me, I do not care about your petty friends. However, you obviously do. What you have just said has proven this."

Sakura swung her legs off to the side of the bed seething in anger and stood up on the cold wooden floor. She felt cloth continue to rustle around her even though she had thrown the bed sheets aside. Looking down at her stature she was shocked out of her stupor by the Akatsuki cloak had been donned for her. "What is this?"

"I sign of acceptance." Sasori hadn't even looked away from his wooden project.

"Is that so?" Sakura whispered and ran her hands down the heavy cloth. Adjusting to the new weight she walked over to where Sasori was working and looked over his shoulder. "You are awfully blunt at the moment, but I suppose I don't know what you are like otherwise."

Sasori paused his hands for a moment before placing his tools down on the desk. Sakura backed away from him as Sasori pushed his chair back and stood up to face her. "You seem to be awfully on guard at the moment Sakura-san. Are you afraid that I'm going to kill you now that I have taken all of the effort to wait for you to wake up and to bring you back here? You should know that this will be last time I will give you such a courtesy, I am an impatient man and do not like to wait."

"Where is here anyways?" Sakura muttered ignoring his hostility and instead glancing around the room. There was a closet stuffed in the corner, the bed, a window and the desk. She shook her head before locking her eyes on the table behind Sasori and at the parts of a new puppet that were sitting there. "Never mind, I don't really care where I am. What I do care about is why I'm actually still alive. Above all else waking up was not something I was expecting."

"Tch, despite what you seem to think Sakura-san, the Akatsuki are merely a group of missing-nin that have one goal in mind, we are not absolutely disgraceful unlike what the rest of the shinobi world seems to think. We do have our facets of honor and my offer was nothing but that, honorable."

Sakura turned her green eyes to meet his brown ones, "No, I understood that you were going to accept me as one of your own, but that doesn't mean anything. I still don't understand why I'm still alive. Weren't you going to turn me into one of your dumb human puppets?" Her eyes flashed to the desk, "Kind of like the one you have in the making right now?"

Sasori nearly rolled his eyes in impatience; the girl just was not getting it. "You over heard Deidara's stupid suggestion then. He does not understand art like I do and so forth will not understand at least for a while why you are here. But to answer your question no, it would be an utmost waste to turn you, Sakura-san, into my puppet."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, before opening her mouth, "Then…"

"You have no self preservation you idiot," Inner Sakura hissed as Sasori's eyes narrowed even more.

"I promised you that the Akatsuki and I would not leave you behind, did I not? If you were to become one of my puppets, wouldn't that make you an insubordinate? I make good on my promises and since you are donning the cloak, the Akatsuki will make good on theirs."

Sakura raised her arms and stared at the black cloth with the red swirling clouds on it, "They have… accepted me already? So easily?"

"Don't be fooled by him or them," Inner Sakura warned, "Remember they probably just want you to get to Naruto or Sasuke-kun or someone, anyone else, and manipulating you this way is better than just taking you hostage."

'I know,' Sakura thought as she raised her eyes back to look at the puppeteer.

Sasori pulled his chair out more and turned it around to face the bed. He gestured for her to sit as well. Sakura looked behind her to the messed up bed. He seated himself lazily on the hard wood chair while she sat back down on the mattress. "My… division, I guess you could say, were easy enough to accept you. We work together closely and understand the dynamics that are created between us despite our obvious differences. Deidara may be a fool when it comes to art, but he is a flawless partner and does not question my decisions; Kisame may be a big mouthed beast, but he is incredibly useful and accepts things as they happen and Itachi, as arrogant as that man is, is just as brilliant as I. When the rest of the Akatsuki were informed, they put up a bit up a fuss, but contended on the condition that you don't run rancid. You won't, will you." It wasn't a question; it was a statement.

"Do you think I will?" Sakura sneered, she had a bit of an inferiority complex when spoken to like that and despite all of Sasori's reassurances she could help but bite out the retort. She was after all her Shishou's apprentice.

Sasori seemed satisfied by her answer. Sakura cursed her transparency and Inner Sakura growled. "Then I will ask for a small favor of you. You may… or may not know that the Akatsuki do not contain any medical nin. Usually we are fine with healing in time, but at the moment one of my comrades, Kisame, is flapping his jaws to the point where no one would like to step into the living space and by night when he moves to his sleeping quarters no one will be able to sleep again. Will you aid him?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"You still act as though we will leave you behind Sakura-san."

"He really bit the strings there," Inner Sakura sneered.

"I am not your team, neither are they. We don't know your past, the reasons why you have been left, so give us a reason not to and you will simply… thrive… here… with us."

Sakura's eyes narrowed dangerously. What Sasori had said was true. She did not have her past haunting her in this place, other than possibly Uchiha Itachi, but she was sure that the man was not ignorant. She did not have her weakness or her timidity clouding the judgment of these people, which she could make disappear without the presence of her team. If Naruto promised to never have her left behind again then his memory of her always would, but these people… "Show me to him then."

Sasori nodded and waved to her as he stood up and walked out of the door. She stood up and followed him out. It seemed like the Akatsuki were stationed in a normal looking house. Sakura scoffed, "Absolutely brilliant, no one would assume criminal masterminds would be living in village walls, you give off the cave crawling image. Is this place a permanent residence?"

"It is permanently the Akatsuki's. However, you will find that we will change location every so often to throw the foolish Anbu off of our tail."

"Should I believe you?"

Sasori looked back at her with one piercing eye before turning back ahead. She could have sworn that he was rolling his eyes at her. "Believe what you want to believe, that isn't the issue at the moment."

Sakura could already hear the multiple curses that echoed off the walls before the door to the living area opened. "What the fuck are you doing back here, Sasori?" Kisame snapped as his eyes whipped to look at the puppeteer and his hands twitched, wanting to but knowing that he couldn't touch his burnt wounds. "Going to mock me like your dumbass fucking partner?"

"Where has Deidara gone?"

"Looking for the cheap bastard Kakuzu."

"Very well."

"Not well," Kisame hissed, "I am still burnt and no cheap asshole can help _me_."

"I have brought you what you need Kisame. Your solution may have just lain with a different type of person. Enter Sakura-san, and close your jaw Kisame, she will heal you. That was what you wanted after all, am I correct?"

"What if the Konoha bitch tries to kill me instead? She is one of them after all, allied with the fucking copy-nin who did this to me in the first place."

Sakura's eyes flashed in anger, "Kakashi-sensei is great warrior of Konoha, be happy you didn't get injured by a genin instead."

"You're a genin?" Sasori asked with a raised eyebrow. Now he was disturbed that a genin had destroyed two of his favorite puppets.

"As are Naruto and Sasuke-kun."

"I'm not shocked you little pink haired bitch, I never believed Sasori's 'evidence' for your strength. His weapons are made of wood after all, anyone could destroy them easily."

Sasori sent a glare at Kisame, "That was not the case the last time we battled."

Kisame scoffed in irritation as he wounds burned again, he turned back to an irate Sakura, "But even more so, I've never even heard of you before, you're nothing."

Sakura growled at the blue skin man with hostility. Inner Sakura shook her head, "Shishou's plan worked."

Sakura cooled down to a temperate boiling, "I don't care that you don't know who I am. I'm actually glad for that, but you don't have to worry either way. I don't plan to kill you in the middle of your own hideout whether or not I have the power to. I'm not stupid."

Kisame turned his eyes on her and made them into slits. "Could have fooled me."

He leaned back on the couch and surveyed her as she approached him with both hands visible and a mocking smile on her face. "Really… no self preservation now that you're swimming with the sharks," Inner Sakura snickered as Sakura waved her fingers sardonically at the sword wielder who growled at her.

Sasori stood close to her, observing her work and to make sure that she would indeed not try to kill his teammate, though he was very sure that she would not. As she lifted her hands and they began to glow the typical medical nin green, Sasori was reassured slightly. Green chakra could still produce weapons such as chakra scalpels, but he doubted greatly that the girl before him had mastered those techniques for she hadn't used any of them in her battle against him. "How many days has it been since we have left the river Sasori-san…?"

"Just Sasori… and it has been two."

Sakura nodded, "That's good, more than enough time to fully heal your wounds without leaving behind scars, Kisame-san," Sakura jeered, "And if it is just Sasori, then you may just call me just Sakura." Her hands started to glow brighter before she ran them over the exposed burns that raced across Kisame's torso and around his arms.

Kisame seemed to let out a breath of relief as his irritated red skin began to mend back together and the fluid oozing from the old wounds merely glistened on the surface. His body relaxed from her presence after several seconds of her touch and the dull ache that had taken residence under his skin disappeared. She was not killing him. He looked up at her as she took her hands away from him with a triumphant grin. "It seems you are more useful than just a just being a genjutsu type, little girl."

"Genjutsu type?" Sakura inquired as she backed away from the sword wielder. Kisame flexed his arms and promptly ignored her in favor of testing his regained motor movement. He jumped up to his feet and stretched out his muscles.

Sasori turned to her, "Do you not know?"

"It was mentioned once in my youth but… never really thought upon."

"So you know no genjutsu?" Sasori asked, that would explain her lack in the technique usage during their battle despite her obvious affinity.

Sakura shook her head, "The one who was supposed to teach me… found… themselves unable to."

"Then that is simply a blank slate to work off of, no weaknesses to drag you down in your training," Itachi muttered suddenly. Sakura nearly jumped out of her shoes, where had the man come from? "What Konoha would have taught you would have been nothing compared to what I can teach you." Sakura turned towards the sound of his voice. He was leaning on the doorframe that Sakura had just entered minutes before. "I came to see what was going on when the noise finally died down. I see that she has medical abilities."

"I told you she derived an antidote for my poison, the vials in her skirt proved that, didn't they?" Sasori muttered with a wave of his hand. Sakura froze as she patted herself up and down beneath the cloak, but it seemed like her dirty clothes were still on her but the remaining vials were gone. Sasori looked at her and smirked, "You have no use for them anymore Sakura, I have changed my formula and will not find the need to poison you anytime soon… I would hope."

"Tch."

"Sakura is it then?" Itachi inquired as he turned back to her. Sakura nodded as she looked at the man who had caused her childhood love all of his pain, and all of her own pain. Her scowl deepened. Oddly enough, Sakura found that the two brothers were probably more alike than they would ever admit. "I will be the one to teach you genjutsu then. Come with me."

Sasori's eyes seemed to narrow before he gestured for her to go with the sharingan user. As the two members left, Sakura tossed her head back to look at the man who had offered her this new life. He looked at her once again before turning to face Kisame with an evident frown. The sword wielder had picked up his weapon and was swinging it around in glee. Sakura sighed at the response and followed Itachi out of the door.

"Medical ninjutsu, taijutsu and after Itachi is done with her, genjutsu. The Konoha nin might not have a Kekkai Genkai or excel at anything in particular, but she is experienced at the three forms of fighting, and even more than that she truly does resent her old team," Kisame laughed suddenly. "It seems like you are correct once again, Puppet Master."

Sasori gave him one last glance and a derisive snort before he headed back to his room, "When is the manipulator ever wrong?"

_Genjutsu_

"Request denied."

"WHAT?" Naruto shouted as he stomped forward two steps. He didn't reach the Hokage's desk before she surged up and placed a finger on his head and knocked him backwards with a tiny flick. Sasuke side stepped the flying blond and shook his head as Naruto picked himself off from the floor.

"You heard me, your request for a support team is denied. Your request to go retrieve Haruno Sakura is denied," her voice was loud, forceful but most of all, her tone was final.

"Hokage-sama, I don't understand," Kakashi stated gnashing his teeth together. Tsunade looked up shocked, the copy-nin was only just holding onto his anger.

Tsunade sat down and crossed her arms, "Of course you three brats wouldn't understand, you haven't been here for the past two years," Tsunade's tone was accusing and bitter as she glared at the boys in front of her, "You know nothing of your own teammate."

"Would you care to enlighten us then?" Sasuke inquired harshly and bitterly.

Tsunade's eyes shone, "Sakura has been assigned on several missions since you have been gone," she waved at Kakashi to quiet down, "all of them have been off record. She is my personal nin, she has become so by becoming my apprentice." Sakura was now much more personal to Tsunade then the Hokage had ever intended when she had given the pink-haired girl the change that she needed.

"What?" Kakashi murmured. _"There has been no method for Sakura to have gotten any stronger in the time that we've been gone."_

"That's right. Your student that you had left behind," Tsunade moved her pointed finger from the copy-nin to the Uchiha and the Kyuubi, "your teammate that you have left behind," she lowered her finger, "became so desperate to catch up to all of you that she requested I pass my knowledge to her despite the knowledge that I no longer wished to teach."

"But you stopped teaching after Shizune," Sasuke uttered as a fact not taking in what the Hokage had to say. His own thoughts were swirling in his head. He could see Sakura crying two years ago, he could see Sakura chasing after him, he could see Sakura hugging him, begging him to stay and then he remembered how she had acted just nights before.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Naruto bellowed, "Why didn't you tell us Sakura-chan wasn't weak? We said so many horrible things…"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed, "You are not perfect beings but you should understand that as her friends, whether she was weak or not, you should not have said those things anyway."

"We were trying to not get her killed or captured on this mission," Kakashi stated, "It would have been wise to tell us for that reason at least."

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to put her in danger as a target. I expect you to be silent about the fact that she is my apprentice unless you want her dead."

Kakashi took in a deep breath, "That still does not explain why we are declined from retrieving her. Strong or weak, she is a hostage of the Akatsuki now and she will die anyways if we leave her be."

Tsunade scoffed, "If she isn't dead yet then I doubt it."

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

"She is a 'hostage' of the Akatsuki out of her own free will."

_"Sakura I want you to stay for another moment please. And you," Tsunade turned her chair around to face the Frog Sannin, "out with the rest." _

_Sakura shifted her feet as she watched the four men depart, all with different expressions on their faces. Shizune joined them in the room with a slow click and a lock of the office door. "Kakashi-san doesn't look very please," Shizune muttered and stationed herself beside the Hokage._

_Sakura looked into Tsunade's furious amber eyes and sighed before blinking slowly to hide her glistening ones, "Shishou?"_

_Tsunade rubbed her forehead with the palm of her hand and looked up at her apprentice with now sad eyes, "I'm sorry for that Sakura, it must have been painful for you."_

_Sakura managed to pull the corner of her lips out and up when a new wave of tears tried to hit, "I'm okay Shishou." Tsunade sighed again as Sakura's eyes refused to glow. "What did you need me to stay back for Shishou?"_

_"The mission scroll and details that I gave Kakashi are simply a ruse for the real mission that I want to have completed. You may have already realized and I'm almost sure Kakashi would have too, if he hadn't been so perturbed, that a team of four is not enough to fight four Akatsuki," Tsunade murmured and looked up at the pink haired girl._

_Sakura nodded, "I did realize that, but you did put together a pretty powerful team."_

_"Powerful yes, but even then it won't be enough to wipe out four Akatsuki members, I'm not foolish as I am stubborn and proud. The real S-class mission is all on you Sakura."_

_Sakura's smile widened a bit more, "I am glad that you trust so much in me."_

_"Don't let your head inflate, a mission like this is exactly what you are kept secret for. The fact that you aren't in any bingo books makes you that much more mysterious and prize worthy."_

_"I understand Shishou. What are my duties?"_

_"Tonight Shizune will come by your apartment and deliver you a package. In it will be five of the ten doses of antidote you created and they will already be separated into vials. More importantly for your true purpose though, is that the package will also contain the poison that you extracted from Kankuro."_

_"Yes Shishou… wait you kept old poison?"_

_"You never know the uses…"_

_"Of course…"_

_"You are the only one who knows about the antidote therefore you must be the only one to fight against he who manipulates the poison. The other three will not survive if they were to do so; Naruto is too rash in his fighting style, Sasuke is arrogant and Kakashi, although he has a possibility of surviving, will not be able to complete the appointed mission. Your training makes this task easier for you as well. And I know the preliminary stages of this will work because if I know anything about the members of Akatsuki, it is that they are always proud of their accomplishments. It won't be hard for you to catch his attention."_

_"You want me to lure out Akasuna no Sasori with his own poison and then kill him?" Sakura tried to clarify with a shocked expression. She didn't think that she could do that._

_Shizune shifted in her spot and looked up at the Hokage as she continued to speak, "Of course not Sakura. You are not strong enough to take down Akasuna no Sasori by yourself. I will not kid anyone including my vain self, but I made you to be enough to gain his attention. That is all we need."_

_"She is still remarkably vain," Inner Sakura snickered._

_"Why is that Shishou?"_

_"Because I want you to infiltrate the ranks of the Akatsuki through the traits of Akasuna no Sasori. We were lucky Sakura that all of the pieces have fallen in place as they have."_

_"Fallen in place?" Shizune acquired. Sakura almost reeled back from her spot forgetting that the medic was listening in as well._

_Tsunade nodded, "As you both know, Akasuna no Sasori is a puppeteer. This by nature makes him inquisitive. He will see your… strengths Sakura and he will understand you beyond normal comprehension. He will probably say something, because he is a man of words, though I don't know what… other than it will be a weakness he perceives from you, and he will use that weakness to make you join him and the Akatsuki. Or at least that is what is to be assumed."_

_"And I am supposed to…"_

_"Accept. He may think that he is pulling the strings, but your mission is to accept his offer."_

_"What if an offer is never made?" Shizune asked with a bit of a panicked tone as she swerved her eyes to Sakura whose stance straightened at the attention._

_Amber eyes bore right into green as breathes were the only sound exchanged. Tsunade's stare pierced through Sakura and the girl blinked, "Then Sakura will die."_

_Silence ensued._

_"T-Tsunade-sama, this is a…"_

_"I accept Shishou."_

_"Sakura-chan!"_

_"Are you certain? I do not expect you to gamble on your life." Tsunade was always trying to give her a way out, "I also don't wish to expose you to the threat of torture if they choose _not_… to kill you."_

_Sakura's smile suddenly reached her eyes as her head tilted to the side, her pink hair swayed around her cheeks, "It doesn't matter if this mission may result in my death and Ikibi-san has given me what I need in order to endure through torture. All missions hold both possibilities, some more than others but it's all still the same in the end. I accept the mission Shizune, Shishou. Will that be all?"_

_Tsunade nodded as Sakura smiled and walked out of the office, "Remember Sakura, be careful, Akasuna no Sasori is very good at what he does."_

"You sent her on a death mission," Kakashi muttered. Tsunade nodded, "with technically no back up…"

"She has never needed back up before. This was just another off record mission for Haruno Sakura."

"You sent her into a death mission while I was there and I did nothing about it…" Kakashi continued to mutter, the last time someone he loved had been sent on such a mission Rin had died.

"That is the gist of it Kakashi. That is why I did not tell you, immediately, the consequences of all your disappearances. You would not have let her take the mission despite her wishes and Naruto and Sasuke would have equally objected as well."

"So what are we supposed to do now? Are we just going to wait? Are we going to wait until her dead body shows up somewhere?" Naruto yelled not daring to surge forward again. His forehead was still throbbing; Tsunade had never been so harsh with him before.

Tsunade snapped at him, "This is why she accepted the mission so easily. This place, this place that you have made for her in a mere five minutes, this world where no one can trust in her after two years of the utmost respect. I would have left as well. And any how Naruto, you should know by now that all missions always have that possibility, if she doesn't by the hands of the Akatsuki, she will die some other way." She didn't realize how much that idea hurt her.

Sasuke who had been quiet for the larger duration of the time decided to make another short comment, "What is then, supposed to happen now?"

Tsunade grinded her teeth together as she sat back down in her chair, "In one year's time I will present you with a mission to go hunt down the Akatsuki. What happens after that depends on you and Sakura."

_Genjutsu_

It was beyond nightfall by the time that Sakura had arrived back to the home. Sasori was waiting inside of his room for her with an impatient tap of his fingers. She was laughing quietly as she walked down the halls with Itachi. The sharingan user was smiling ever so slightly as well as he conversed with her.

Sakura had found during their training session together that Itachi was much more of a brute than Sasuke had ever been. The man was arrogant, brilliant, hard working and just plain strong, but he was not absolutely emotionless unlike how his little brother had been as a child. He had emotion, most of the time the emotions just simply weren't pleasant. Then again she usually was his enemy.

They nodded at each other before parting ways and Sakura found she was delighted with his intelligence and grace. Itachi disappeared into one of the rooms in the hall. Sakura looked the hallway up and down, lost for a moment before going back into the room she had woken up in. "Sasori, where will I be sleeping tonight?"

Sasori was leaning on the wall adjacent to the door, staring out of the window. His hands were hidden in his sleeves and she couldn't see his face. "We do not have any extra rooms in this house."

Sakura smiled and took two steps into the bedroom running her hand on the wall, "Should I just sleep on the couch in the living area then?"

Sasori suddenly turned toward her and glided so that he was standing before her. One hand pushed the door behind her closed as her breath hitched in her throat. What was the Puppet Master doing so close to her? Sasori's brown eyes narrowed, "Understand this Sakura… you are mine."

"What?"

"Whether or not Itachi trains you, tells you about his past, looks like his little brother, or Deidara talks to you, expresses his art and enjoys your company or even if Kisame starts asking you for favors, laughing at your antics and appreciates your presence, you are, in the end, only mine. I brought you here, into this world that you are already enjoying despite all self preservation…"

"Sounds familiar?" Inner Sakura laughed.

"I am possessive of things that are mine. I don't like other people touching and most definitely taking my things, Sakura."

"But I thought you said that I wouldn't be pushed behind… and now you're telling me that I'm an object?" Sakura sneered. She squeaked and pressed herself as far back as possible when Sasori's eyes flashed at her and he pressed himself closer to her. The moonlight behind him caused him to glow.

She noted that the man looked like a demon with the white glow encircling his head. "More like an angel you idiot," Inner Sakura muttered as she bit her lip. Sakura banished that thought with a physical flick of her head, the Akatsuki would never look like angels now matter how much their heads' glowed.

Sasori hissed and clutched her chin with his other hand in response to her movement, "I never said that you are an object, I merely stated that you are mine," he had her trapped against the wall. There was no emotion shining in his brown eyes, just a possessive aura Sakura assumed that he always harbored. She didn't understand him, she had thought they had been kidding when they had said all of the Akatsuki were exceptionally insane, but now she needed to believe in order to stay alive.

Sakura's eyes sparkled up at him, she didn't sense any danger or insult from Sasori, but she did sense something akin to… frustration, a feral impatience. He was crazy. "I'm yours then…"

"You are mine."

"Yours…" Sasori nodded and a pause ensued, "Then will I be sleeping in here tonight?"

"Indeed."

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Should I even question why you're wearing civilian clothes?"

"Deidara never touched me."

"Do you think my plan is to invade the kitchen and cook for myself?"

"Hey… HEY using water jutsu to wash dishes is cheating! CHEATING!"

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

To answer the questions of some who attempted the riddle of the four scars, it actually belongs to a flashback earlier in the story. The one where Sakura was in the Hokage's office after about a year and Tsunade was allowing her a way out of being her own personal nin. It's nothing huge, but it gives some chronology to what in god's name is happening here.

This chapter was so awkward to write it wasn't even funny. I had to ask my friend a million times if it was reasonable for people in a criminal organization to be doing these things. It was to the point where having them take showers was like..."wut?" More awkwardness to come for me...

I loved writing Tsunade in this chapter. Her and her pointing fingers and the such. Naruto was cool as well, him and his inspiring speeches. Although I'm kind of sick of how he can make people change at the spin of a hat in the actual manga itself, it's a very good characteristic to have. It's also very important to his character so I had to have him giving some sort of inspiring something to get peoples butts in gear.

And last Sasori and Sakura thing had to be done. But to clarify, there is nothing romantic going on here yet... well maybe with Inner Sakura, but she's just a bag of hormones as previously established.

Oh how the title of the chapter has so many meanings : D.


	7. Akatsuki

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: I would have liked to have gotten two more reviews but bleh w/e. Thank you for those who reviewed who I couldn't thank personally you guys are deh awesome.

* * *

Chapter 7: Akatsuki

"Should I even question why you're wearing civilian clothes?" Sakura groaned as she was pulled from her sleep by the clicking of wooden puppet parts. Sakura blinked when the redness of his hair finally fell into her vision and she rubbed the gunk out of her eyes. Sasori glanced at her before turning back to his project before him. Sakura sighed and slipped off the bed with a loud thump. She had removed her robe the previous night and had hung it with Sasori's robe in his closet before sleeping in her still soiled Konoha clothes. She had detested the thought of sleeping in sweat stained and reeking attire, but it was either that or in her equally not so clean undergarments and she didn't even want to think about the last option. As sexy as Sasori was, according to Inner Sakura, she just wasn't the type of girl to sleep nude with anyone.

"You smell disgusting," Sasori stated as he manipulated the wood with his chakra and caused it to spin in the air for several seconds. Suddenly about five small splinters that had been sitting on the desk rose and attached themselves to the spinning one, Sasori smiled in satisfaction.

Sakura stared at the piece of wood intently before his comment finally registered in her sleepy mind. She seethed angrily at the boy sitting before her, "Not my fault that I don't have a change of clothes with me. You were the one who decided that I shouldn't grab my bag by knocking me out."

"How terribly inconsiderate of me," Sasori scoffed before putting the puppet part back down on the table and standing up to face her. "I have left a set of my clothes in the washroom for you. They will be big, but they will have to suffice for now. After you are done cleaning yourself up, we will go into the village to find you… more appropriate attire."

Sakura's eyebrows shot up to her hair line, "The Akatsuki go shopping? That can't be right."

Sasori sighed and nearly rolled his eyes again, "Unlike what you seem to think, most of us have human needs which include the purchasing of certain materials. We are not barbaric."

"And I would have thought you would steal all of your stuff…"

"We don't waste energy on pointless acts."

"Ah…" muttered Sakura as she walked past Sasori and into the washroom that was connected to his room. She circled around him as what she knew was a ridiculous distance but after spending the whole entire night sidled up to him, distance was a good thing.

"Remember to lock the other door as well Sakura."

"Uh huh…"

Sakura locked her door and smiled into the mirror. Her hair was sticking out in every single direction and her eyes were droopy from sleep. She was amazed that Sasori hadn't flinched and calmly walked out of the room to escape the horror that was her appearance in the morning. Calmly because she doubted that he would have been like Naruto and run out screaming in utter terror.

Sakura's lips twisted into a grimace as she began to remove her clothes. Sasori's bed was big enough for the two of them to fit, but it was also too small to keep a relatively comfortable personal bubble going. 'Men are irrational pigs,' she thought absentmindedly. Sakura shook her head and let out a laugh as she thought about how she had pressed herself up against the wall the whole duration of the night and how Sasori seemed to have been sleeping on the very outside edge. They had managed to get several centimeters of space between them for the whole night though it was nothing like her unoccupied bed in Konoha.

Sakura stepped into the shower and stared at the two bottles of shampoo and the one bar of soap that was sitting on the small ledge. She sighed and made a mental shopping list, "Clothes and soap…" she muttered picking up one of the two bottles. The first one smelled like sandalwood, she picked up the other and sniffed gently, the other smelled like warm embers. She placed both bottles back down having made her decision.

Turning on the water dial and flinching away from the initial cold spray, she smiled, grateful that the Akatsuki members liked hot water for their showers. Her face scrunched up as she soaked her hair, it was strange knowing that the Akatsuki did something as normal as showering. Once her hair was thoroughly soaked she picked up the shampoo that smelled like sandalwood and squeezed out a fairly large amount. "Smells like Sasori…" Sakura muttered distractedly as she lathered up the lightly scented shampoo. When she had washed the suds out of her hair and tugged through the matted mess on her head she regretted the fact that these boys didn't use conditioner. "Why would Akatsuki need conditioner?" Sakura muttered with a scrunched nose as she picked up the lone bar of soap and sniffed. She rinsed it off in the running water.

When she was done she peaked out from behind the curtain and grabbed the beige towel that was sitting on the vanity. Using it to dry herself and her hair she stepped out of the shower. She paused as she looked at the assortment of clothes set before her, "A shirt and pants… where did I get the idea that the Akatsuki would carry some girly pieces of underwear around with them. Not every great shinobi is as perverted as Jiraiya-sama, Naruto or Kakashi-sensei." Only then did she realize that she had listed three too many perverted, great shinobi.

She scrunched her nose as she pulled on the shirt. Looking in the mirror she saw that it was indeed too big for her. It hung to her mid thighs and the long sleeves covered her hands. She laughed lightly though, "Understandable since Sasori is a man and looks like he's eighteen, about three years older than me…" Sakura smiled while wrapping her hair up in the towel knowing that the Akatsuki would definitely not have a hair dryer, actually she had abandoned hers long ago too. Sakura looked in the mirror at her reflection, 'I don't look too bad' she thought as she span in the dress-like shirt.

Sakura stopped her spinning and brought the sleeve of the shirt up to her nose. Taking a delicate sniff she smiled as she recognized that it was the same scent as the one that was on the bed sheets. She laughed at the fact that the Akatsuki had things such as pheromones and started spinning again. A click sounded.

"Oh…ho…" Deidara managed to grin, "What do we have here?" He looked just as bad as Sakura did in the morning. His long blond hair was undone, but ridiculously messy and his eyes were droopy, although they now shined in mischievous glee. Sakura would have suspected that he was another perverted, great shinobi to add to her list if this hadn't been Deidara in front of her. But granted he probably was perverted if the way he was staring at her had any say, or maybe he was just a man. Yah, that was probably it.

Sakura paused in her spinning before letting out a ridiculously loud shriek that made her lungs proud. She had thought that this man before her had gone to see some guy to get his hand reattached or something. She idly glanced at his reattached limb, 'Oh…' She backed up and reeled back her fist but before she could land the punch she heard a clamor occur in Sasori's room. Then Deidara's bedroom door slammed open.

Before she registered what had happened and the fact that her face smashing punch hasn't hit a face, a different hand reached from behind the clay master, grabbed Deidara by the shoulder and threw him backwards into the wall. Sasori sneered as he looked at her, "I told you to lock the other door!"

"S-sorry!" Sakura squeaked lowering her extended fist as Sasori slammed the bathroom door shut. She heard a yell or two from the other side of the door before just silence. Had a fight between the bomb user and the puppet master ended so soon? That irked her to no end. Behind her she could hear Sasori's bedroom door open and close quietly before the quiet tapping of wood echoed from under the crack.

She shivered from the intense and sudden display of emotion from the otherwise calm and collected Sasori before she blinked, turning back to his pants and slipping them on. Still not quite registering what had happen she took the red comb, choosing between that and the yellow one, and started to pull at her hair. "I'm… not going to even ask…" Sakura chanted to herself, she needed to squash her curiosity complex here or die.

When she was done she looked at herself in the mirror again and smiled sheepishly, "Is it not too obvious I'm not wearing underwear?" The question was directed at no one in particular. She slumped and sighed, "No point wallowing, the faster we get on the streets, the faster I get some support and relief." Sakura looked at herself under the shirt, "Okay… maybe I don't need that much support…"

She unlocked and opened the bathroom door that lead to Sasori's room and took a step out. Suddenly she was assaulted by a heavy piece of warm fabric. "Put that on, we are leaving."

"Ah, yes Sasori!" Sakura chirped as she pulled the beige, undecorated cloak around her shoulders quickly just doing what the puppet master had said and rushed to catch up to him. He was already gliding down the hall in his all-powerful, I'm smarter than you, Sasori like manner. They passed the living area where Deidara was sprawled on the couch with a black eye and bitching quite terribly. He could probably give Kisame a run for his money. 'Who am I kidding, no one can beat Kisame in bitching.' "Uh… Deidara is…"

"Leave him."

"Hai!" Sakura grinned as she fell into step behind Sasori. She took one last look at Deidara, the medic in her couldn't help it, who was still bitching loudly, even more so now that Sasori had denied him relief. Somehow though, he was sending her a gleaming wink at the same time. She shivered again, that was just too weird. An Akatsuki member had just winked at her.

She could hear Deidara muttering quietly, "What a bastard, yeah, so very mean Sasori no danna."

They exited through the front of the house and came upon an empty street. The sunlight warmed her face pleasantly and she sighed in happiness, everything was going well so far, the Akatsuki trusted her enough to wink at her. Sakura had found out yesterday night with Itachi that they lived on the outskirts of a small town within the confines of the Fire Country. She was shocked that the Akatsuki had such a permanent residence set up so deep within the enemy territories but thinking about it, she realized that it made sense. No one would have expected it. She obviously hadn't. Also, where _wasn't_ enemy territory to the Akatsuki?

She suddenly realized that Sasori had gone on without her while she had stood pondering over how human the people she now resided with actually were. With an indignant yelp she sped up to catch up to him. He had his hands stuffed into his pockets and his gaze refused to turn to her even when she began to walk beside him. "Sasori? Is something wrong?" Sakura asked as she tried to stick her head in front of him. Old habits died hard. This was what she did to Sasuke whenever he was in a broody, Uchiha mood. However, Sasori simply continued to walk in total disregard as Sakura pulled her head back quickly. Sasori was even worse that Sasuke, at least that boy would dodge her head.

Sakura frowned as she caught up with him and clasped her hands behind her under the cloak. "You know, it's really hot out here," muttered Sakura as she pulled on the edges of the heavy attire. Sasori's hand was then placed right beside hers as he pulled the edges of the cloak back into place.

Still without looking at her Sasori simply stated, "Do not remove it." Sakura looked up at him curiously as he removed his hand and placed it back into his pocket. She had a feeling he talked to many people in blunt commands, no use getting angry and not being able to send him across the town.

"Why not?" Sakura asked.

"It seems like we will be needing to go to different clothes shop than the ones I had in mind."

Sakura turned a bright red as she pulled the cloak tighter around herself. She thought it hadn't looked obvious. Glancing back up at Sasori with reddened cheeks she blinked as he continued to not even glance at her. She was starting to like Deidara more than this guy and she had only been exposed to him for an ugly five seconds, at least he had acknowledged her assets, "So where in the village will we be going?"

"The shopping district."

"Well I knew that, but where in the shopping district."

"Where there are garments."

"I knew that too, I meant to say…"

"Will you be silent!" Sasori demanded.

Sakura huffed, "You really are in huff today. Yesterday you were much nicer." 'Scratch that, yesterday he had been a possessive hog, but best not mention that'.

Sasori suddenly stopped and grabbed her shoulders pulling her back before she could take another step. He dragged her over to the side of the street and glared at her. His smoldering brown eyes pierced into her shocked green ones. 'He was nearly a whole head taller than her' was what Sakura realized as she stared into his eyes. No wonder the shirt was a dress.

"Did I not tell you to lock the door?"

"You told me to what?" She shook herself back into the real world.

"Did you not hear me before you stepped into the bathroom?"

"Did it seem like I registered very much until after my shower?" Sakura threw back at him annoyed with his questions.

At her impatience he seemed to get more impatient as well, "I told you yesterday, Sakura, that you are mine." He had said her name firmly and it made her feel more like an object, or even worse a scorned dog, more then ever, "I don't like it when other people touch my things."

Sakura's eyes crossed at his logic, "Deidara never even touched me."

"He might as well have."

"You… are… such a… man!" Sakura groaned as she pushed him aside and continued down the street. She stared at her fingers, 'Did I just shove an Akatsuki member and come away alive?' More and more people began to appear and Sakura fidgeted before slowing down to keep pace with Sasori who appeared behind her with an even more annoyed expression.

"I mean what I say Sakura."

"I get that. I really do get that… by gods I get that. I wouldn't still be here walking beside you, conversing with you, considering you my friend, for lack of a better word, after two measly days if I didn't get that," she threw her hands up in the air in frustration before the thought she had just expressed dawned on her. "I've been here for two days… two days and I've been acting like I've known you people for forever… comparing you with people who used to be my friends in Konoha…"

"Indeed."

"What is wrong with me? You people are part of a…" she paused not expressing the thought while glancing around, "group, a group that I never particularly liked and suddenly I… consider you people my friends, acquaintances, people I can talk to… whatever."

"Again Sakura, you may be shocked to discover that we are beings that deal in social interaction as well. Within the group we are quite likable…"

"Likable, tch, tell that to the rest of the world," Sakura muttered.

"And it is needed for us to work efficiently as a force to oppose. I'm sure that you understand that part of strategy very well." Sasori continued as though she hadn't interrupted.

"I guess…"

"Hm, we have reached our destination. Take your pick of shops, I will follow you and pay where it is needed."

Sakura looked up at him, "You're paying for me?" Her forehead was wrinkled in contemplation.

Sasori rolled his eyes and snapped impatiently, "Do you have money to pay for yourself?" Sakura blinked and shook her head, "Therefore I will have to pay for you. Do not worry so much over the sentiment; the money is not personal. The money acquired within our division is never personal."

"I'm not even going to ask how you get all your money…" With that statement Sakura smiled and started milling in and out of the vendors that adorned the street.

Four hours later she was carrying three bags of clothing on one arm, two bags of clothing on the other and one bag full of hygienic material. Although she had liked Sasori's shampoo she thought the smell wasn't that great when it was on her, on missions it would make her stick out like a sore thumb. Her pheromones matched up to more of a flowery type tablet.

"Are you about finished?" Sasori inquired as he continued to walk beside her his tone having gone beyond impatient.

Sakura smiled and nodded, "I'm all done."

"Quicker than I expected." He still sounded positively annoyed contrary to his words.

She couldn't tell whether or not the man was trying to be sarcastic, she opted to think that the Akatsuki weren't into sarcasm, "You have girly expectations?"

"We do contain a woman in our… group, as you call it."

Sakura's eyebrow shot up, "Is that so?"

Sasori nodded absentmindedly as they passed by a restaurant. "Right. Will you wait for me?"

"Obviously…"

"I just remembered that the others asked for me to get dinner on our way back."

"Take out?" Sakura asked.

"Do you think my plan is to invade the kitchen and cook for myself?" Sasori muttered. She had been wrong about the sarcasm.

"Do you not cook? I heard you have a fully functioning kitchen somewhere in that house."

Sasori stared at her incredulously, "Do you really think anyone in the Akatsuki has had time to hone skills such as cooking?"

"I just kind of assumed that most of you have had a past before the Akatsuki is all," Sakura replied with a huff.

Sasori shrugged, "We can slice and dice things. But if we do not want to eat raw food, the best we can do is explode it."

Sakura let out a laugh as she grabbed Sasori's sleeve and dragged him away from the restaurant. He had obviously been referring to Deidara in that jab. "I don't have anymore room on my arms to carry any groceries, but if you would carry them for me then I will cook for you incompetent people." She continued to laugh as she pulled him into the nearest produce market. "Give me the money you were going to use for take out! Thank you!"

Sasori looked around as though he had never been in one before as Sakura hopped around, once in a while returning to him to drop a bag in his hands. She normally wouldn't offer a house of men her talents in cooking, she had rarely done it back home, but she needed a source of normalcy in her life right now, even if that meant playing a housewife to four men. By the time she was done spending all the money he was going to use for one night of take out she had packed five bags of groceries on his arms. "I believe that this is a little much…" He once again did not look happy.

'Does he ever look happy?' Sakura smiled at him, "The amazing things about groceries is they can last well past one day. The more amazing thing is that you eat really expensive take out. Now come on, we should go back to your house. Don't want to keep hungry people waiting."

Sasori nodded creasing his eyebrows at all of the groceries that he was carrying, "Right, in order to eat home cooked food you have to wait…"

Sakura looked at him as though he was crazy, "You talk like you haven't eaten home cooked food in decades." He gave her a pointed glare, "Ah… okay stupid thing to say, oh well home cooked food is usually worth the wait," she paused at his glare, 'Right, impatient…' "I'm not extremely good, but I think my skills are enough to balance all that money you would spend on one night of take out."

"Tch." He shifted the groceries around on his arms clearly unbelieving that he was carrying such things. She smiled at him timidly. At least she wasn't dead yet, it was a start.

_Akatsuki_

"You didn't get any food?" Kisame nearly bellowed. His hand was in a fist as he shoved his face into Sasori's. Considering that the sword wielder was much taller and bulkier than the puppet master, it looked like Sasori was about to get his face pummeled in. Deidara chuckled at the image before wincing at the strain that the movement had caused his eye. Sakura scurried past the two with her six bags of personal items and disappeared into the hallway.

Sasori heard the click of his door opening, the dropping of material and then the click of his door closing. He rolled his eyes at the man still shoving his face into his, "I did not get any instantly edible food, no."

"Care to tell me why? We give you this one easy task Sasori and you can't even manage to complete it. Was the pink haired bitch bothering you or something? Did she fuck with your brain while you were in town? Did she fuck _you_ or something? I knew that she wasn't to be trusted."

"How does not getting take out have anything to do with trust?" Sasori retorted with a snort.

"It has everything to do with trust Sasori no danna, un," Deidara smirked with his arm thrown around the back of the couch as Sasori threw him a dirty glare.

"She saved us money," Sasori sighed. He really didn't know why he had agreed to the pink-haired girls qualms, he didn't like the idea of home cooked food anymore than they did. He especially did not like the need to wait for it. But to admit that would mean admitting defeat and losing his pride to a dumb shark and his obnoxious blond partner, that was much worse.

"Didn't know that you've turned into the cheap bastard Kakuzu."

Sasori registered his door opening and closing again while debating whether or not to throttle Kisame before he saw Sakura step back into the living area and grab the bags that he had dropped nearby the door. She had changed out of the cloak and his clothing; she was now wearing a tight pink tank top and loose fitting black pants. "I'm not a bitch you giant fucking fish," she retorted as she ran back out again.

Sasori's eye brow rose, she seemed comfortable enough now to swear at them or maybe she was just overly zealous due to the nice fitting and not reeking attire. "That is a change from yesterday…"

Deidara laughed at the gesture Sakura had flipped at Kisame before she had picked up her bags. "I like her yeah, for once Sasori no danna got something right."

Sasori threw him another dirty glare, "Why does everyone question me?"

Itachi sighed as he sat down on the couch beside Deidara. It was only seconds later when Sakura's head poked back into the room. Her cheeks were slightly flushed as she laughed nervously. She scanned the people that were inside and seeing that Kisame and Sasori were still busy not tearing each other to bits and Deidara just wasn't a safe bet for today she spoke up, "Er, Itachi-san do you mind showing me where the kitchen is? I haven't had time to look around and this place is a bunch of doors and hallways." She was sure she had walked into Kisame's bedroom by accident, best not to tell him that.

Itachi looked back up at her and nodded. He stood up and watched as Sakura smiled cheekily at the puppet master waving her fingers merrily before Itachi began taking the lead down the hall. "I'm guessing the reason Sasori did not buy food was because you are planning to cook."

"Oh you're so much smarter than the others," Sakura grinned as she shifted the bags around on her arms. She had already established a semblance of comfort with this man the night before. After all he hadn't killed her while they had sparred and that was a good thing. Itachi held out his hand and Sakura smiled sheepishly before handing him one of the five bulky bags. Itachi raised his eyebrow but said nothing.

"I would suggest getting the food done quickly before we are forced to switch residence due to irreplaceable damage."

"Big, blue fishy has a temper doesn't he?" Sakura laughed as Itachi opened a door that was surprisingly far from the living area. She stepped inside and smiled at the versatile kitchen that was within and the dinning table that sat beside it.

Itachi placed his bag down on the counter in the center of the small kitchen silently as Sakura placed hers noisily beside his. She opened the fridge and explored around a bit, "Are you going to keep calling my partner that?"

"If he is going to call me what he thinks I am then I'll call him what I think he is, isn't that reasonable Itachi-san?" Her voice was muffled considering that she had shoved her head into the refrigerator while grabbing random items out of the bags and placing them inside.

"Hn, I do not care all that much what you call him. As long as you two are not the cause of the irreplaceable damage. We have had to relocate our residences' in this area several times already."

Sakura smiled as she got off her tippy toes from placing objects in the cupboards that were situated above the tabletops. "I'll be on my best behavior then Itachi-san." Her smile brightened as she opened another cupboard and saw that all the dishes and cups were inside. Looking into the drawer that was directly underneath her smile brightened even more when she saw utensils. "I was afraid for a moment that you wouldn't have anything to eat or cook with…"

"They were left over from the previous inhabitants." Sakura didn't question any further.

She looked up at the dark eyed man and frowned slightly, "Not to be rude Itachi-san, but you don't seem like the type of person who has caused Sasuke-kun all the pain he has experienced these last twelve or so years." Actually she was a little bit freaked out that she didn't instantly hate this man, if anything he was actually the one that she liked the most out of the whole brood. He talked to her like she was a smart person, who granted, she was, and he regarded her as though she were truly a kunoichi, if her battle scars from yesterday had anything to say about that. She had never fought anyone like that before.

"That, Sakura is a story for a different time."

"Ah, understood." Sakura nodded and began pulling out the remaining ingredients that she hadn't packed away. Exploring the rest of the kitchen Sakura pulled out everything she needed and began the cooking process. She didn't question why Itachi was watching her; she knew that they had a long way to go until full trust could be garnered.

'Full trust…' Sakura thought, 'I want it from these people'. She peeked up at Itachi momentarily. Her heart skipped a beatt and she nearly burned herself with the boiling water. She bit her lip and stole a glance at Itachi again who had his eyes half lidded as he absentmindedly observed her every action. His facial expression didn't change. 'Full trust for the mission,' she thought, 'just for the mission.'

_Akatsuki_

"I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE LETTING HER COOK!" Kisame roared as he sat on the couch with his hands and legs crossed glaring at the television. Deidara sat in between the two acting as an unwilling peacekeeper.

'Aren't I usually the one that is arguing with Sasori no danna, why in all names am I preventing Kisame no danna from beating up Sasori no danna, who has no taste in art, yeah?' Deidara thought grumpily as he glared at the fuming blue skinned warrior and the irritated puppet master.

"If you haven't noticed you over grown guppy, Itachi is gone and watching her movements, either way she won't do anything to us," Sasori ground out with a shake of his hair. He was hungry and the waiting was not helping in his irritation. Also Deidara was getting in the way once again.

"Yeah, Sasori no danna is good at knowing things like this, un," Deidara grumbled in a futile attempt at appeasement. 'Why am I trying again?'

"Shut up Deidara!"

"You fish brain, I'm only trying to prevent him from killing you, yeah," Deidara snarled, his impatience finally withering away with a soundly pop. He should have been the one to show Sakura to the kitchen, that way he might have been able to charm an eye heal out of her and Itachi would have been stuck with these two idiots.

"Man, you should have just gotten the take out! Even Deidara looks like he's about to eat the couch," Kisame growled. Deidara glared at him, he did _not_ look that hungry. "We've been waiting for over an hour now and there is still no food. This isn't worth the stupid wait, we have enough money to deal with the take out costs," Kisame grumbled as his lips twitched.

Sasori was about to retort when Deidara started sniffling the air dramatically. "What's that smell, yeah?" he asked as he stood up, anything to get away from this catfight. Also although he was not nearly hungry enough to eat a couch, he was still fairly famished. He looked out to the door of the living area that was still sitting wide open. They other two looked up at him as he continued to sniff the air purposefully. "That smells good, yeah." Deidara walked out of the room forgetting about his two arguing friends and his role as peacekeeper, disappearing into the hall.

"I think your food is ready," Sasori remarked with a smirk.

Kisame growled, "About time!"

"HELL YEAH!" Deidara shouted. Sasori and Kisame's heads both shot up at the sound. Standing up they rushed out of the door and down the hall to the kitchen. When Sasori entered the room he was shocked to see the assortments of food scattered on the table. Not a single surface of the table was uncovered by cuisine except for two places.

Deidara and Itachi were already sitting down at the table as Sakura brought another plate of food in from the kitchen filling in one of the holes. Deidara's hands were twitching in excitement as Sakura laughed at him. Deidara looked up and smirked as her; she allowed a red flush to adorn her cheeks before she shook her head. "You'll be uncomfortable eating like that," Sakura muttered as she brought her glowing, green hand up to his eye. Deidara flinched back in shock before wearily leaning into her touch.

The pain disappeared almost instantly and Deidara pulled back when the chakra glow stopped. He contorted his face in random ways and grinned at the girl again, "Thank you, turns out you aren't heartless after all, yeah." Sakura just rolled her eyes.

She finally looked up at the two coming into the kitchen and smiled brilliantly, "Welcome. Take a seat, I'll go get the rice."

Kisame was speechless as he sat down at the table right beside Itachi. All the food was finally assaulting his senses and he had to hold back his reflex to drool. Take out usually only meant getting four courses of food to share between four people, this arrangement allowed him to eat so much more. Kisame was delighted; big men needed a lot of food and he was definitely a big man.

Sakura was shocked when she came into the dining room again and she saw that Sasori had disappeared. "Does he not think it looks good? I didn't do much for presentation since I knew you four must have been hungry." She had never tried to present actually, her boys back home usually dug in anyways simply happy that she had finally cooked for them. But that was years ago.

"I sincerely doubt Sasori cares," Itachi stated before Sasori reappeared into the kitchen with the chair from his desk. Sakura raised her left eyebrow as she looked back at the dinner table. A smile lit up her face, there had only been four chairs before.

Sasori placed the chair at the dinner table, "There." He stated before sitting down in his spot. Sakura sat down on the old, mismatched chair and smiled.

"Dig in!" she chirped. Before she could say or do anymore Kisame grabbed all of their rice bowls and shoveled rice into them like a pre-wired machine. Passing them back he seemed hesitant in giving Sakura hers. His silver eyes seemed tentative as he finally let go of the bowl. Sakura stared as the sword wielder who then commenced in devouring the rest of the table.

Deidara leaned in to her and whispered, "Fight for your share, yeah, fight before Kisame no danna eats it all!" And with that Deidara jumped into the frenzy as well. Sakura laughed as she snuck her chopsticks into the ruckus.

One hour later and all five of them were leaning back on their chairs absolutely full. "I am going to explode, yeah," Deidara grinned.

"Please do not," Sasori sighed.

Sakura laughed, 'they make jokes' as she willed herself to stand up, gathering as many plates as she could, she waddled back to the kitchen and dropped the plates into the sink. She watched, as Itachi was about to grab the remaining plates before Kisame stopped him. He shook his head and grabbed the plates instead. Itachi sat back again and closed his eyes. Sasori and Deidara were half-heartedly bickering at each other.

"I didn't expect you to be the helping type…"

Kisame shrugged in nonchalance, it was pretty obvious that he thought this to be as awkward as she did, "You dry and I'll wash."

"Alright."

There was silence as the water ran from the faucet and the first sets of dishes were cleaned. Deidara was the first to clear from the dining table with yet another wink sent in her direction, next was Sasori who gave her a half hearted glare, perhaps he had been waiting for her, but she had taken too long and then Itachi also disappeared with his slow and graceful movements.

"Oi…"

"Yah?"

"I'm s-sorry for being such a…" It was obvious that he was struggling with the word.

'Has he ever said it before in his life? Well no shit Sakura, when would Hoshigaki Kisame ever have to apologize to anything?' Sakura thought to herself before she smiled at him, "Don't worry, I understand. It's only natural to be suspicious of me." Kisame nodded as he washed off another dish, Sakura felt the need to fill in the silence now that he had broken it, "You know being friendly doesn't suit you Mr. Fishie."

Kisame's eyes hardened as he threw her a rancid glare. "Bitch." His mouth twitched into a smirk. That was not what she had been expecting and what happened next wasn't what she had thought would happen either. There was no sword in her gut.

Sakura's eyes widened as the water from the tap suddenly went wild and started spraying at all the dishes, "Hey… HEY using water jutsu to wash dishes is cheating! CHEATING!"

Kisame snickered and left the kitchen with a flick of his wrist. Sakura frowned as she stared at the sparkling, clean, white dishes… that were all still dripping wet.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Hn, just that many people don't make it out of bed the next morning after a night like that."

"Well I'm sorry that first impressions aren't always that great. If I remember correctly, he attacked me with the very intent to kill."

"Reports came in that all three survived. Stupid Sasori saying that his poison would finish them off. Everyone has an antidote to that thing now."

"Yah, you're a fucking cannibal."

"D-did the genjutsu do physical damage to me?"

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

So... yes there is such thing as shampoo that smells like warm embers. Ask Bath and Body Works... they have every bloody scent imaginable.

So... Deidara got a personality. When I first outlined this whole entire story Deidara was like the character that would do anything. Actually now that I think about it, it was like putting Tobi's personality into Deidara and that is just horrific in some sort of odd fashion.

Kisame curses like Hidan does. I know that it isn't probably true, but he's only cursing like gold at Sakura and well that interaction has never played out in the manga/anime, so bleh!

Again with the awkwardness but... yah had to do some sort of settling in. Sorry for the lack of action, but it is Sakura personality development? Well everyone personality development.

Please Review!


	8. Testing

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: Thank you to those that reviewed!

* * *

Chapter 8: Testing

When Sakura woke up the first thing she noticed was that the house was unusually quiet and that there wasn't any tapping to be heard in the near vicinity. Opening her groggy eyes she winced as she noticed the sunlight flow into the room and directly into her face. Rolling over she groaned as she took a peek at Sasori's desk and noticed that he wasn't sitting there.

"He's always there," she muttered before turning back toward the wall and trying to get comfy again. She couldn't. Her head was pounding and her whole body felt as though it was on fire. Turning again so that she was lying on her back she moaned from the exertion and placed the back of her hand over her forehead as she tried to adjust her deep breaths. She clenched her eyes in pain as her whole entire body convulsed for just a moment before it fell back down onto the mattress with a creak of the springs. Sakura wiped off the sweat that had accumulated on her brow with a sigh.

The previous night Itachi been teaching her genjutsu again, following a hardy spar, and it had been a nightmare for her, literally. For some sadistic reason, though this was a sadistic man she _was_ thinking about, Itachi thought that the best way to understand the true effects of a jutsu was to be put into it yourself. So that was exactly what he had done.

Sakura paused in her thoughts, 'That's why he was harder on me than usual, he was trying to waste away all my chakra so that I wouldn't be able to dispel the jutsu instantly. The Akatsuki, though human, are still absolutely insane.'

Her monsters had haunted her for a full year, it had seemed, before Itachi had released her from the genjutsu with an Uchiha smirk plastered on his face. She couldn't help but hate the look just as much as she hated it on Sasuke.

However, it had turned out that she was only exposed to the technique for barely a minute before she had literally screamed bloody murder. To put it lightly, she was not a happy camper with the sharingan user and really hoped that she would never have to use that jutsu on anyone.

A whole year wrapped up in that minute, she had spent, being in a place where she wasn't loved and needed. A whole year, she had lived, in a place that didn't want her, and where she didn't want to be. Sakura's eyes drifted over the ceiling slightly as she thought about her old team. Her muscles began to contract harshly again as Sakura bit her lip and cursed silently.

But that jutsu had only just been the topper of being beaten into the ground by the older Uchiha. Every single ounce of respect that she had developed while in the presence of Tsunade was gradually wilting away, her ego deflating at the rate of a popped balloon. She could break mountains and snap a tree in half with one finger, but none of that mattered when Itachi wouldn't even let her land a single blow on him. Genma senbon had nothing on the speed of this man. 'No wonder he was able to kill a whole entire prestigious clan,' she grumbled and covered her eyes with her arm. 'What else happened yesterday?'

'Oh right,' Sakura thought as her nose scrunched. Itachi had told her that his kind attention to her training came at a price. She had known it was coming, she just hadn't thought that he would be such a cruel bastard about it. 'Right, Akatsuki… insane…' Not only was he going to be beating her into putty and putting her in these horrid illusions while he taught her those that he already knew, but he would be using her as his "crash test dummy", so as to say.

"How do you think jutsus are founded Sakura?" Apparently the newbie in the Akatsuki, that when in the presence of Itachi, was always the victim of his 'ingenious' testing. He would switch out seals, add in extras and replace them and test them on her. Today would be the first, fascinating day where he would put her through his trials.

Sakura groaned again as she pushed herself up off the bed, "Thinking hurts," she groaned rubbing her temples. She needed to take a shower. After she had gotten back from that grueling trial and the multiple genjutsu Itachi had tried to teach her she had literally fallen on the bed and gone right to sleep. She wasn't too sure if she had fallen on top of Sasori and he had moved her to the spot she was in now or if he had been sitting at his desk when she entered and had watched her, probably amused, as she collapsed and then moved her. But that wasn't the point at the moment, the point was that she needed to wake up and find out why Sasori wasn't sitting at his desk like he had been for the past two weeks she had woken up in his room.

Crawling off the mattress and tumbling onto the floor she walked into the washroom and took care to lock both of the doors. After the first time, she hadn't forgotten even once, as nice as it was to have someone appreciate her. Showering and getting changed she smiled at herself in the mirror. The grogginess was all gone and in its place was the bright, happy, let's get my ass kicked again version of herself. "Time to go find Sasori," Sakura murmured as she exited the washroom and the bedroom. Walking down the hall she opened the door to the living area.

Inside Kisame sat on the couch watching the TV with absolutely no expression on his face. Itachi sat on a different couch reading a fascinatingly large book about… something, Sakura couldn't tell. Scanning the room again Sakura frowned when she noted that Sasori and Deidara were still not present. No wonder there had been no sound in the house when she had woken up.

"Good morning Sakura," Itachi said with a nod of acknowledgement. He didn't take his eyes off of the pages he was reading. Sakura smiled slightly as she saw Sasuke in Itachi's place with Kakashi's book reading personality. She just hoped the contents of the book weren't the same. Her perception of the Akatsuki was already blown askew enough as it was.

"Good morning Itachi-san, good morning guppy!" she chirped as she sat down beside Kisame. It was his permanent name. She had tried to be civil after the dish washing incident, but he riled her up more than anybody had ever been able to while she had been back in Konoha. Stupid nicknames would have to suffice instead of punching him. Punching him would be bad.

Kisame looked up at her with one eye and replied, "Bitch." Sakura smiled at him and leaned back on the couch. They had an interesting relationship, the only time he was ever nice to her was after she fed him.

"Which reminds me, I need to go shopping!" muttered Sakura as she put a finger to her chin and tapped three times. Kisame glared at her again for interrupting the commentator on the television, 'is he actually watching it?'

Itachi finally closed the book and looked up at her, "You're taking the morning surprisingly well."

"Is that a bad thing?" Sakura asked as she turned to face the dark eyes of Itachi. So different from his spinning tomoe that she had witnessed the previous night. His voice was different too, he sounded much more reserved and calm now that he wasn't inflicting pain on her mind.

"Hn, it is just that many people do not make it out of bed the next morning after a night like that." He sounded innocent enough.

"Ah hah, trust me, it took a lot more effort than usual," Sakura admonished, looking around again she said she ignored Kisame's snickers, "Where are Sasori and Deidara? I found it strange when he wasn't working on his puppet when I woke up this morning. He's always working on his stupid puppet." It was one of his day-to-day routines and it rooted Sakura into the reality that she was living. Having him not there was throwing her off more than she would ever admit.

"Ah, Sasori and Deidara have gone… collecting," Itachi replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. The massive book was placed on the table and Sakura could see that it was about the history of the twelve seals. She gulped; he was reviewing for their night together. She hoped that the review would allow him to not kill her by accident, and if he did accidently kill her with his new jutsu that it would be quick and painless and that if it wasn't quick and painless that he wouldn't use the new found power on any of her old… friends.

Sakura looked back up at Itachi and managed not to stammer in sheer horror, "Collecting?"

"Deidara doesn't get his stupid medium for his Kekkai Genkai from no where and Sasori needs a new puppet after what you did to two of his," Kisame retorted as though it was the most obvious answer in the whole entire world. He flipped the channel.

Sakura glared at him with all her might, "Well I'm sorry that first impressions aren't always that great. If I remember correctly, he attacked me with the very intent to kill."

"You were invading our territory."

"Technically you were in ours."

Kisame looked up at her with a glint in his eye, "Those kind of political boundaries don't apply in the darkened forest. You'll learn that the hard way pretty soon."

Sakura's eyes narrowed, "I was just stating the technicalities. I've already learned that lesson thank you very much, my first chuunin exam didn't go according to plan after all."

"Keh, your exams are nothing compared to that of Kiri's."

"What ever you say guppy."

"Bitch."

Itachi just sat there amused at the antics of his partner and the new spit-fire girl. Turning to the TV he trained his eyes on the flashing colors before he winced from the experience. "Itachi-san, are you okay?" Sakura asked as she stood up to stand beside him. She had only noticed because she had flashed her eyes up the moment it had happened, any later or sooner and Itachi would have just looked the same as always.

"I am fine," he murmured as he took his hands away from his eyes. They were bleeding.

"I-Itachi-san! You most definitely are not okay, let me take a look at your eyes," Sakura said with a hurried and shocked tone of voice. Medic Sakura was invading her again and now she couldn't stop her automatic movements. She dropped to her knees in front of him while he sat down so that her eyes were level with his. "Don't worry, I've had more than enough experience with the sharingan."

"My little brother?"

"Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei, hai," Sakura confirmed as she pushed her hand so that it lay over Itachi's left eye. Her hand started to glow a deep green as she explored the sockets and the nerves that attached to his eye. It was absolutely amazing just how different the sharingan made the human eye. 'Its capacity for healing chakra is limitless, which also means… wow.'

"I thought you had learned your medical expertise after they had left."

"I don't remember telling you anything about the chronology of my past."

"You do not need to tell me for me to know."

"I studied the sharingan for them while they were away, all Kekkai Genkai have a weakness and I had to know that of the sharingans'. I found out of course and with Shishou's help I simulated the chakra flow but I've never actually tried the healing technique."

"Comforting."

"I'm one of the best. It doesn't matter if I've never tried it. Now sit back, relax and let me work my magic." Once again, Medic Sakura/ Tsunade hybrid was in charge. Itachi nodded albeit reluctantly. Trying as hard as she could she fixed anything that seemed unusual and took her hand away from his face. "Does it feel better? I think I've stopped the bleeding at least momentarily, I don't know how long it will last. I tried to fix a couple other things on that way as well…"

Itachi closed the eye that had yet to be fixed and looked at the screen with his left eye. The flashing did not hurt his eyes as much as before, but they still made him feel numb, "It is… better." He was mildly shocked, but he was a man that never really liked to show his emotions so he reined them in when Sakura gave him a knowing grin. He hadn't expected her to have this much medical know how, apprentice of the Godaime or not.

"Okay, that means I do know what I'm talking about," murmured Sakura as she placed her hand over his right eye. She could only have imagined what Itachi would have done to her if it hadn't worked… actually if it hadn't worked she would have just reversed the procedure and not get killed. The glowing started again.

"Itachi, you should stop using your sharingan before you go blind," muttered Kisame still staring at the television. Sakura had never heard the genuine concern in his voice before. It must have been because of the bond they shared as partners in the Akatsuki.

"Impossible."

Sakura clucked her tongue as she took her hand away from his eye. Standing up she exited the room. Kisame threw Itachi a condescending look as Itachi waved it off with a flick of his hand. Sakura returned with a damp cloth and walked up to Itachi to wipe off the blood on his face. "Does bleeding from the eye signify a degradation of your vision?" Sakura asked.

Itachi flinched from the extra care that Sakura was giving him and pushed her arm away. She frowned as she shoved her hand back into his face and glowered at him. "Not exactly, bleeding is more like a symptom of the degradation of a sharingan eye."

"Ah, then that's good, Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei have never bled before."

Itachi looked up at her, "You should stop mentioning your teammates Sakura. I know what you saw yesterday at the end of our training; you really shouldn't try to pretend you care for them," he was weaving his words as the shock passed on Sakura's face, "Sasori knows the reason why you so readily accepted the offer to join us. We all do. And you are also incorrect, my little brother's eyes were bleeding when we left them there that night."

Sakura's hand paused for a moment, she wasn't pretending, she really wasn't pretending that she cared for her old teammates, of course she cared, of course she cared for them… just a little bit less with every passing day… "Is that so?" Her heart was beating quicker. "Shouldn't he be dead?" she stated coolly. She couldn't fool this man, he could probably hear her blood pressure going up; it was, after all, Uchiha Itachi sitting before her.

Itachi looked at the television and noted that he barely felt numb, "Reports came in that all three survived. Foolish Sasori saying that his poison would finish them off. Everyone has an antidote to that thing now."

Sakura smiled inwardly, "Is that so?"

"Glad he changed it," muttered Kisame.

Sakura nodded slightly before she smiled, her heart slowed down. Wiping all other thoughts out of her mind she regarded Itachi. "Do you mind if I go out to get some groceries again? I know that Sasori isn't here to accompany me but it's been two weeks and everything is running really, really low."

Itachi nodded at her as he grabbed some of his money from his pocket. Kisame cut in, "You're not going grocery shopping alone yet bitch. I'm going with you."

"That is a surprisingly selfless act considering that I cook without you people watching me anymore." 'Do I really? Might as well say what I see.'

"He wants to choose his favorite foods," Itachi stated with a shrug as he grabbed the massive book with his unoccupied hand off of the table and flipped through its pages. Sakura's eye twitched as she looked over at Kisame who smirked at her; he flicked the remote as Itachi's head and the Uchiha caught it without even looking up. Kisame grabbed the money that Itachi had thrown onto the table.

Whistling merrily he headed for the door of the living area, "Are you coming pinky?"

"You are a selfish bastard."

"Oh you sing different tunes so fast. No wonder you betrayed your village," Kisame laughed as he turned into the hall and out of sight. Itachi looked up at the pink haired girl with a raised eyebrow.

Sakura's first clenched and without missing a beat she raced after him, fire behind her eyes. Itachi shook his head and hoped that she wouldn't accidently destroy anything before going back to flipping the pages of his book. His eyes weren't blurring the words on the pages any more. He allowed himself to grin now that there was no one present as he turned the page again.

_Testing_

"You wanted fish?" muttered Sakura dumbly as she stood in front of the stall that Kisame was gesturing at.

"Yes, is that a problem?" he snapped.

"Yah, you're a fucking cannibal." She was obviously spending too much time around the cursing swordsman.

"I am not. I am a human identified with a fucking shark, sharks eat fish."

Sakura looked up at him with one eye twitching and a grin plastered on her face. He shrugged at her, "You just admitted that you are a big toothed fish."

Kisame growled, "Just buy me the damn biggest, best fish and all of your other crap before I eat you instead."

"Oh, scary guppy says he's going to eat me," Sakura mocked with a deeper voice before the stall owner finally came to their attention.

The poor boy was shaking as he glanced at the tall beast and his eyes were trying to look at anything but the silver eyes that were piercing into him underneath the hood. The pink haired girl looked okay to stare at.

Sakura pointed at one of the fish and the vendor owner nodded quickly willing that man that was scaring away his customers to go. "Nice disguise by the way," Sakura laughed as she took the bag with the fish inside and paid the money. Passing the bag to her new partner in grocery shopping crime she grinned at his hooded and fully covered body.

"No need to gain unwanted attention."

"Yah, of course you're not gaining any attention," Sakura scoffed. Everyone was staring at the giant shadow that was walking around the market place.

A vein popped on Kisame's forehead as he resisted the urge to throttle her; his partner and the Puppet Master would not be happy. He followed her as she grabbed herbs and vegetables from a nearby stall. He watched her from far away as she bartered with other young men that were manning the stands and got more than she had asked for at the same price. Next she jumped into the red meat section and pointed and prodded at fresh and bloody animal meat before buying a couple choice cuts.

Twenty minutes later she returned to him and passed him three of her four bags letting him carry the majority of the stuff she has bought. It was Kisame after all. As they walked out of the market place Kisame smirked at her, "Whore."

Sakura glared at him and clenched her fist willing herself not to punch the man like she would have punched Naruto. Kisame would actually kill her if she tried to do so. She returned his comment with silence and a bright, beaming smile instead and the facial expression he had on his face was better than any punch she could have given.

She was still laughing by the time she had gotten back to the house. Taking off her shoes and watching as Kisame threw away his multiple layers of clothing in favor for his normally scarcely clothed chest. "You don't have anything to show off, just so you know!" Sakura grinned as she took the grocery bags from him and ambled to the kitchen.

One hour later Sakura had prepared Kisame's giant fish for him just as he had demanded while circling around her in the kitchen. She smiled as she set up the dinning room table. Walking back to the cupboards she searched for rice bowls and nearly took out five before she paused. Sasori and Deidara hadn't come back home yet. Putting two back into the cupboard she slowly walked back to the table and placed all of the dishes down. "DINNER!" Sakura screamed down the hall.

Itachi appeared within a minute and sat down at the table beside Kisame. Sakura smiled as she pulled out one of the chairs, the one that Sasori usually sat in, and gave her bowl to Kisame who shoveled in a pile of rice. She ate silently as the two in front of her did the same. She smiled when Kisame couldn't prevent his own smile from gracing his face when he took a bite into the fish. It turned out the Akatsuki had their little enjoyments in life too.

_Testing_

"Shannaro!" The ground ripped apart into one large crevice that swallowed up the unfortunate trees that surrounded the pink haired fighter. Sakura scowled at she looked up quickly and hopped away from her spot. She had learned in her first couple of spars the ultimate weakness of her punches; they revealed her exact location to the enemy.

"You should really stop that habit of yelling out whenever you go for the attack," Itachi sighed into her ear and Sakura tensed as she span on her toe and tried to deck him in the face. He glided away swiftly, disappeared in a flurry of crows and Sakura's fist brushed air as she hissed in aggravation. That was exactly what Uchiha Itachi was; he was down right aggravating. Sakura shifted her eyes up, down, left and right; he was nowhere in sight and she didn't want to risk another blow into the ground so soon. "Tsunade could get away with such impotence simply because she is one of the legendary Sannin. You however, are not."

Itachi didn't like to punch that much, but when he did, it hurt like crap and that was all Sakura could think about as her body skidded along the ground and her spine popped in protest. "Damn it," Sakura cursed as she immediately hopped off her butt and look to the leaves. She didn't have time to heal herself, the man wouldn't give her time and although 'his reasoning had been just enough, he just didn't need to be such a bastard about it'.

"You can't run away from me Sakura." A flash of red and Sakura knew that she had been found.

'What has it been? Five seconds?' Sakura thought as she was once again blown backwards by a large stream of water and into a tree. She managed to cushion her landing with her chakra and she dropped to the ground with an audible thump.

"Katon…"

Sakura's eyes widened as she stumbled backwards. A large fireball was hurtling towards her and she knew that she couldn't just _punch_ the darn thing out of existence. "Mizu…!"

Itachi smirked as he observed the girl bring up a wall of water and then shut her eyes at the incoming flames. It was the first time he had seen her do so in battle. In their first spar it had irked even him, how little she would blink. It was like she had trained herself to keep her eyes constantly open and constantly watching. And that strategy would have worked on most foes, but this was Uchiha Itachi and even the copy-nin's eyes couldn't follow him. "I think we are finished with this for the day."

Sakura blinked slowly as she lowered her arms from their crossed and defensive position in front of her. She had only had enough chakra to bring up a wall exactly her height and everything around her was still burning. The orange light casted an eerie glow over the Uchiha who stood before her and she couldn't help but stare in wonderment. It finally clicked, "I'm standing before a legend…"

Itachi's eyebrow rose, "You are a strange one." Sakura shook her head as the flames disappeared with a wave of Itachi's hands. She looked up at the man again as he turned his back on her and began to walk away. "We will now start with the genjutsu."

Sakura's head dropped, "Great… just great." She brought her hands up to heal the damage that had been done to her arms, legs and back. He had left her with exactly enough to finish the process cleanly. Sakura looked up in realization, the man had already determined her exact chakra capacity. "Even more brilliant than Shikamaru…" And she ran after him into the large clearing that bordered their fighting ground.

They were both sat down cross-legged on the far outskirts of the village. The lanterns that hung far away and the moon was all they had for light. "I'm going to replace this seal with this one. Watch the order and then prepare yourself for what ever happens after," Itachi commanded.

Sakura fidgeted as she nodded. He went through the motions as she braced herself. The jutsu he was modifying was the one that had nearly killed her yesterday. Nothing happened and Sakura opened one eye to look at Itachi. "Seems like this one isn't going to work," Sakura murmured relieved.

Itachi nodded with a small frown marring his face before he stood up. He shook his head before walking away while Sakura scrunched up her nose in confusion. It seemed like the older Uchiha had gotten impatient after just one trial. 'He is one astute perfectionist,' Sakura thought as she watched him enter the trees and disappear from sight. Sakura knew that the jutsu indeed did not work simply because Itachi was too good to make mistakes in his hand seals. "Itachi-san?" Sakura called out as she stood up. The wind whistled in her ears as she ran over to the forest borders. She looked into the darkness where a figure was waiting for her while leaning on one of the many trees.

It wasn't Itachi who was standing before her. "Ah, S-Sasori! Are you back?" Sakura grinned as she approached the dark figure.

Sasori nodded calmly, "I have returned Sakura."

Sakura grinned and went up to him with the beam still on her face, "It was awkward today at dinner without you and Deidara present. We had fish; Kisame was being a giant cannibal. Where is Deidara anyways?"

"Deidara?" Sasori questioned with a tilt of his head and a raised eyebrow. Sakura looked up at him with narrowed eyes. When had Sasori ever done something as cute as tilting his head to the side when confused? Akasuna no Sasori was the definition of anti-cute.

"Yah, he left with you this morning…" muttered Sakura sternly and then suddenly her vision fragmented. The pieces in front of her fell apart, gone was the cute Sasori and suddenly she was sitting on the grass cross-legged again staring into the dark eyes of Uchiha Itachi. "What?" Now she was tilting her head in total confusion.

"What did that do?" asked Itachi not at all phased by her deer in the headlights expression.

Sakura was still disoriented from what seemed like a rapid teleportation that she hadn't performed herself. She looked over to where she had been standing in her genjutsu and noticed that nothing had been disturbed in that area; there weren't her signature sakura petals scattered on the ground. "I don't think it will be good for battle purposes," Sakura muttered as she rubbed at her eyes and sighed. They had only just started and her brain was already getting befuddled.

Itachi nodded writing down what she had told him. She couldn't figure out why she had seen Sasori in her genjutsu. Thinking back to the few seconds before Itachi had finished the order of the seals, slowly just for her to observe, she sorted through her thoughts, the loud ones and the more subtle ones. Suddenly it clicked, what she had wanted to see the most in that moment before the seals had activated was what she had seen in the genjutsu. She had wanted to see Sasori come home, Deidara too, but since the jutsu could only show her one thing that she wanted, it had shown her Sasori. "What exactly did the jutsu do that made you think it would be useless in battle?" Itachi asked as he noticed that Sakura was still perplexed and a little bit dazed.

"It showed me what I wanted most right before the genjutsu activated," Sakura murmured slowly as though still rolling the idea around on her tongue. It was the only one that made sense, "It won't be good in a battle because it'll only strengthen the enemy's resolve when they see themselves succeed in defeating you or something just so." She had thought about Naruto when she had said that. Nothing would work as well like a good motivating genjutsu to strengthen Naruto's resolve.

Itachi paused for a moment and tapped his chin, "Indeed that is true, but under other circumstances it could still be useful. It could cause an enemy to become over confident," he crossed out the word unusable on his parchment and rewrote his own opinion. Sakura was sure that no one could be over confident while face to face with Itachi, but she wouldn't say anything, "…and coupled with the sharingan I'm sure that I could also use his or her vision to my advantage. In a Sasori-like manner." Sakura noticed that he did not inquire what the genjutsu had shown her, but somehow had managed to still hit the mark. Was she so readable that he didn't even need the sharingan?

"I guess what you say is true. Don't use it in battle with most of Konoha though, it won't work so well," Sakura muttered with a small smile adorning her face.

Itachi nodded slowly. "One more for tonight, I have a feeling that this will get my desired effect."

Sakura nodded as she looked back up at Itachi with thankful eyes. This would only be the second test he would have performed on her for the night, but she wasn't complaining about being let out early. She watched as he instantly activated his sharingan before switching two hand seals in the order and suddenly all of the air was knocked out of her lungs.

Sakura screamed as a sharp pain tore through her arm. Her eyes snapped open in horror as blood splashed down to the ground. She watched as the world drained of color and pain continued to slice through her at even and painful intervals. A sharp object scraped against her cheek and another slashed through her thigh. She tried to dodge them but her body felt immobile, she could barely move a finger but she could scream. Everything around her sounded hollow, the only thing she could register was her quickly beating heart. It was the same heart that was pumping her blood right out of her. She still felt as though she was out of breath as she tried to take in her cries and reduce them to whimpers. She wouldn't be fooled, this was just a genjutsu and everything she was feeling right now was just an illusion. She bit her lip to not shriek out in pain again when suddenly all of the color came back. "Sakura…"

Sakura blinked, that sound, there was now sound, "I-Itachi-san?" Why couldn't she see him?

His face suddenly appeared in front of hers and she realized that she was on her back. Sticky liquid was dripping down her face, torso, leg and arms and when Sakura reached up to wipe at her face she winced in pain from the movement. She brought her hand back in front of her eyes shakily and then stared shocked as she noticed blood lacing her fingers. "W-What happened?" she managed to choke out; her words didn't sound clear to her.

Itachi frowned in a twisted smirk-like fashion, "The jutsu worked much better than I had initially thought it would, a bad thing considering that I used it on you, but a discovery none the less. I would have liked to see how it would have played out, but I fear that is not an option with you as my opponent. Wait here, I will go grab some bandages."

"D-did the genjutsu do physical damage to me?" Sakura whispered as the world faded in and out, nothing was quite registering for her. She swore her speech was garbled this time, but Itachi seemed to understand. 'So much for genjutsu being just illusions…'

"Indeed. If I hadn't released it when I had, your wounds may have been more fatal. I am surprised you are not crying right now, my respect for you may have just increased."

Sakura tried to nod and smile at the compliment but before she could, the world blacked out.

_Testing_

Sakura groaned slightly as she heard a commotion out in the hallway. She threw her arms over her eyes expecting sunlight to flood into her pupils, but when the peachiness of her skin tone didn't invade her vision she removed her arm and opened her eyes. Sakura blinked, she was back in Sasori's room. "I told you not to touch my things!" That was Sasori voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first few times you yelled that. Calm down, yeah," Deidara replied with a grumpy huff. It seemed as though he was used to Sasori's possessive outbursts.

"Don't touch my things," Sasori ground out.

"I didn't even touch it, un!"

That was when Sakura heard a door creak open. "Will you please leave your argument for tomorrow?" Itachi demanded. He sounded as though he had just woken up as well.

"You have never cared before," Sasori muttered, there was still a bite in his usually calm tone. Sakura truly wondered at that comment though, how could no one care about two bellowing voices so late at night?

'Oh… common occurrence…'

"Well Sakura is injured and sleeping in your room so I would suggest not bothering her."

"Injured?" The next thing Sakura processed was a wave of light flowing into the room and at her face. "Stay out of my room Deidara."

"But I just want to check on her too, yeah."

"Out!"

"Itai," she muttered trying to cover her eyes again. 'Oh, there's the pain…' her arm felt like rusted iron.

Sasori shoved Deidara out as the man tried to surge in and closed the door behind him before walking toward her slowly as not to disturb her anymore than she already had been. "Let me see your wounds," he demanded.

"You were so much cuter a couple hours ago…" Sakura murmured sleepily and shifted on the bed.

"Pardon?" Sasori asked with a raised eyebrow as he knelt beside her, "Never mind, you were training with Itachi. Strange things always occur with Itachi in the vicinity. Now show me your wounds Sakura."

Sakura nodded, not wanting to put up a fight and held out her arm and turned so that her face could be shown to him. She pulled the sheet back and showed him her leg next, "The last one is on my stomach," she muttered and fluttered her fingers over the burning and bleeding wound. Sasori nodded again as he stood up and walked over to his desk. Opening a drawer, he took some things out and walked back to her. She saw that the objects were a thin wire and a pointed needle. Staring she saw that the materials were small enough for medical standards. "I'm not a puppet Sasori, you can't use puppet things on me and not expect some sort of a protest."

"I know," he replied before threading the needle in his hand while taking her arm in his free hand and unwrapping the bloody bandages. "We will need to buy new sheets."

"I'm sorry," murmured Sakura. Sleep was taking her again as the constant poke and pull on her arm soothed her. It was like she was back in Konoha, in the hospital with Shizune and Tsunade as they taught her everything that they knew. But the smell was different, this place didn't smell sterile, it smelled like sandelwood and blood.

"It is alright," Sasori replied and continued to stitch her arm methodically. His hands were cool against her skin and surprisingly gentle considering how much rougher he normally was with everything, "I will guess that you have been drained of chakra from your training with the Uchiha and that is why you have not healed yourself yet." Sakura nodded her head, "It is obvious that Itachi was the culprit behind the wrapping job. He is useless at fixing wounds."

Sakura laughed, "I thought all of you were…"

"This is for temporary relief until you have enough energy to heal yourself, bleeding to death before that would make the ability to get rid of infections useless. You can get rid of infection correct?"

She nodded and fluttered her eyes open. "Thank you Sasori," Sakura muttered and closed her eyes again. Her last words before sleep consumed her were slurred, "Welcome back."

"Ah, I have returned Sakura."

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"You will be accompanying Deidara and myself on a mission to go collect money from a wealthy business man on the farther edges of fire country."

"You can't even tell that you are a woman under that thing, yeah. What a waste…"

"Yukari rules this place with an iron fist. No one dares to cross him unless they wish to be evicted and then killed by those rogue nin he has for hire. He takes the money that the people earn and gives them only enough to survive."

"Yukari, I thought I recognized that name, you're Asahashi Yukari!"

"But he is allied with the elders of Konoha, he helps fund some of our security operations in the Fire Country, he is a good man."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

I love how Itachi came out at the end of this chapter. At first he was just kinda bleh for the original draft, but now he's kind of arrogant and cool and so, so Uchiha like.

It was called to my attention that Sakura was extremely peppy for being with the Akatsuki...and this chapter was heavily edited due to that. Sakura was skipping around a lot in the first draft of this chapter... it was strange to say the least. So now she's a little bit more calm. Also as a warning, Sakura is going to turn quite OOC due to personality development in this world. So uh... yah hopefully people won't have a problem with that. It's just how fanfiction sometimes works XD. Thank you for your support :D

It's too easy to pick on Kisame XD

Sasori is the definition of anti-cute. You have to admit. However, he is pro-sexy, so everything works out in the end. Yah yah!

Omg...is that SasoSaku I see...IT MIGHT JUST BE : D.

The most recent filler for Naruto is the main reason why sometimes I just can't stand Sakura


	9. Evil

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: Thank you to those that reviewed!

* * *

Chapter 9: Evil

"I'm going to have do what with who, when?" Sakura asked tentatively as she rested her head on the back of the couch while staring up at the ceiling. She enjoyed counting the speckles that adorned the roof when the four members of the Akatsuki talked about things that she didn't know about. It just so happened that her name had been mentioned in the middle of the conversation and she had still been diligently counting.

Deidara threw her a smirk from the other couch as he rested both of his arms on the backs and tilted his chin towards her. "You should probably be listening to what we are saying, yeah."

"You try listening to stuff when you still feel like you've just been put into a blender," Sakura murmured as she counted her two-hundredth speckle. Deidara just chuckled and shook his head at her.

Sasori sighed and pushed his hair out of his face with a slight scowl marring his young features. Sitting down beside her he replied curtly, albeit impatiently, "You will be accompanying Deidara and I on a mission to go collect money from a wealthy business man on the farther edges of the Fire Country."

"Business man is cutting the term a little close Sasori no danna."

"Do you have any other way of referring to him?"

"An asshole, un."

"I thought so."

"Why am I needed for something like that? It sounds very much like something Deidara and you could handle all by yourselves. Especially if he's just an asshole business man," Sakura muttered losing count of the speckles and sighing as she tilted her head up slightly to look in Sasori's brown eyes from the corner of hers.

Deidara chuckled again, "Still like her, yeah." Sakura's eyes flickered towards his blue ones as Deidara winked. Sakura held in a giggle. Deidara was likeable once you got through the apparent perversion and his obsession for anything that exploded or burnt.

"It is impossible to leave you here all by yourself at the moments notice," Sasori replied his lips still frowning in slight irritation, "I am sure that that should not be too much of a shock for you."

'Man he still hasn't lightened up one little bit…' Sakura thought as she blinked her eyes slowly. Sakura finally looked at him fully with both of her eyes as she resolved to totally give up her mission to count the speckles and draw constellation-like shapes with them. It wasn't like the Akatsuki, mainly Itachi, were going to tolerate her connecting some of the speckles with lines anyways. That was only something she could do back at home, in Konoha. She had a whole entire night sky right under her roof. "I've been here for two weeks and a half and you can't trust me to be home alone. I feel like a twelve year old again." Sakura winced at her bad choice of words, her age reference, before lifting her head off the back of the couch and turning her whole body to face the Puppet Master.

There were no indications of the wounds that Sakura had received from Itachi's experimental trial, lack of error and imminent success anymore. They had disappeared by the second day after the fact when she had regained her strength and had blazed them away quickly with her healing chakra while silently lecturing Itachi on his rotten bandaging skills and Sasori's terrible stitching expertise. Kisame had demanded that she never be put out of commission beyond another dinner time again and since then Itachi had not taught her anymore genjutsu. It might have also had to do with the fact that both Kisame and Itachi had left for their own mission an hour or so after Sakura had healed her own wounds, but that was beside the point. She scoffed in order to hide a laugh as she remembered how much Kisame was cursing about not being fed any good food before he had left.

"Yeah, trust me you aren't a five year old," Deidara shrugged and Sakura looked over her shoulder at him as he continued grinning at her.

Sakura shifted slightly and stuck out her tongue at the man before turning back to face the ever irritated Sasori who seemed like he wanted to gut his partner for interrupting again. She could have sworn that, before she had fully turned back and in retaliation to her childishness, Deidara had raised his palms at her and had stuck three tongues back in her direction. 'I have been beat.'

"It is not that we do not trust you," Sakura gave Sasori a pointed look with a raised eyebrow, "Truly it is not." He was scowling at her again.

'Right, anti-cute.'

"I would leave you with my puppets if it ever came down to it, which it never will, and I would know you would never touch them, I would kill you if you did…"

'Oh, he's just as good at reassuring as he was when I first met him. Props to the guy with crap medical stitching.' That was the reason that she was still sore, he hadn't disinfected the wire he had woven through her skin. "Where do you keep your puppets anyway? Do you hang them in your closet like the people in Suna do?" She was specifically thinking about Kankuro and his collection in the basement of his own abode.

Sasori rolled his eyes in exasperation, "You have been in my closet Sakura," he was talking to her like she was an annoying child again and she sorely resisted the urge to waggle her tongue at him, "Have you ever seen a puppet there before?" Sakura frowned bashfully and shook her head; "I keep them in scrolls like real shinobi with any sense of handling do. But that is not the issue, the issue is that you have been with us for a little over two weeks and now you need to do something for the Akatsuki."

"Ah…" muttered Sakura.

Sasori nodded, "Everyone in this division has verified your power through the physical destruction of Hiruko and the Sandiame Kazekage but even if the others in separate divisions did believe that you had delivered the fatal blows, which most do not, you need to build up a foundation of trust among us."

"You're joking…" muttered Sakura as she tapped her chin. 'A foundation of trust among the Akatsuki through the completion of missions… that sounds eerily familiar…'

"I am not Sakura."

"Fine I'll go with you. But really, how is collecting money going to be anything good on my record?"

Sasori smiled sarcastically, "Funding for the Akatsuki goes a long way Sakura. Some members more than others."

"Like the cheap bastard who attached my hand back on, yeah," Deidara stated as he waved his wrist at her.

Sakura blinked, 'When did he stand up and appear right beside me?' She blinked again and turned back to Sasori. "Alright, alright," Sakura murmured as she dropped her head and sighed. It had only been yesterday that she had healed herself from that terrible experience and she wasn't feeling up to anything, but what the Akatsuki demanded was what she would have to do, "When will be heading out?"

"As soon as you grab your things. You'll need to bring along your cloak. We aren't going for subtlety here," Deidara grinned mischievously as he made the comment with his hands stuffed into his pockets, "We need to let the target know whom he has angered in withholding payment, yeah."

"I feel like a loan shark now, rawr," Sakura snickered as she snapped her teeth. Only once she had finished the spontaneous reaction did she realize just how ridiculous she had acted and blushed brightly, "I think Kisame should be taking this job…"

Deidara outright sniggered while Sasori nearly laughed at her humor but only managed to quirk his lips before standing up and exiting the living area. "Get ready, Deidara and I will be waiting for you at the door."

Sakura nodded to no one before she stood up as well and walked back to the bedroom that Sasori and her shared. Walking in and shutting the door behind her, she smiled at the hat lying on the bed. It would do well to conceal her hair, not many people paraded around with such ridiculously identifiable locks. That was the main reason that Tsunade had never really considered her for the Anbu. After all Anbu was designed for exactly what she did for Tsunade; the completion of off record missions by personal soldiers. However, her eyes, that could be seen through the mask, and her hair would have given her identity away to anyone with any knowledge of Konoha shinobi anyhow and making her not part of any identifiable organization would have been much more reliable.

Sakura grabbed the hat and placed it gingerly on her head like a kid with a new toy, she then opened the closet to retrieve her cloak. Taking a look at the closed bedroom door she pushed aside Sasori's clothes and her clothes that hung beside his to look into the depths of the closet. What she saw made her frown; 'He really doesn't hide anything in our closet, that's kind of disappointing.' She wanted to call him on his bluff and laugh at him for it. 'Too bad,' she thought and closed the closet door.

Walking back down the hall while fastening the clips of her cloak and to where the entrance was, she noted that Deidara and Sasori were indeed waiting for her and that they were also dressed to kill. "About time, yeah," Deidara grinned and looked her up and down, "You can't even tell that you are a woman under that thing, yeah. What a waste…"

As flattering as Deidara's flirting was, it reminded her too much of Naruto's off handed and innocent comments about her figure and it made her want to smack him over the head instinctively. Although Sakura knew that punching Deidara was an okay thing to do, she had done it once or twice and he had simply punched her back in the arm, blasting a hole through the side of the house would have gotten Itachi mad at her. She really didn't want Itachi to get mad at her, especially now that he had that particular jutsu in his arsenal. "I don't think it really matters how womanly I am when I'm going off to kill people," Sakura muttered as she pushed past Deidara. He just continued to grin at her.

Sasori shockingly enough had no emotion plastered on his face and did nothing about Deidara's comment. Deidara's remarks about Sakura being the only girl were getting too common for the others to react. The second, third, forth and fifth time he had mentioned something of the sort, though, had been an experience as mind blowing as the first. Once, Sasori, as his possessive nature indicated, had thrown Deidara out of the window and into the nearest river, which honestly was not so near. Sakura suspected Sasori had used chakra strings at one point to amplify the distance. Deidara had not been happy when he had come back soaking wet. Watching the two artists spar afterwards had been one crazily delightful experience for Sakura before she had been pitted against Deidara herself. Dodging explosives was not the same as dodging senbon.

Sakura smiled as she stepped out into the bright sunlight and lifted the edges of her hat slightly. The warmth of the rays played over her cheeks as she took in a deep breath. No one was on the streets, which was a good thing. Sakura giggled, 'Imagine the shock of any poor soul that would have watched three Akatsuki members walk out of a house!'

They were in the trees within moments and using the sturdy limbs as their pathway, Sakura followed the two S-class criminals in front of her. They moved with such agility and grace that Sakura almost had a hard time keeping up with them, almost. It wasn't like they were going to slow down for her and she made sure that they wouldn't have to. These people would not leave her behind physically or mentally. She refused to be left behind by these people. Her strides got longer as she fell in beside Deidara.

They had been travelling for about two hours before they took their first break at a small creak that bisected the forest. Sakura grinned as she realized that she wasn't out of breath and best of all, they had made a great travelling distance. "Yeah, your better than I thought, yeah," Deidara grinned as he took a swing of water from the canteen that had been strapped over his shoulder.

Sakura knew it wasn't meant to be an insult; Deidara was just being himself. "Scared that I might be even faster than you?" Sakura teased as she grabbed the canteen out of his hand and took her own sip.

Deidara snatched back the vessel and seemed to tense up slightly, he hated having his man pride challenged by anyone. She remembered the first time she had teased him in the middle of one of their friendly spars when his explosives couldn't even graze her. He had upped the ante immediately and considering that it was blasting at a hundred times faster than before, it had also been quite effective. His pride also lingered to his form of art and that was when the dynamic of the duo before her really stood out. 'That had been the most interesting non-fight, fight that I have ever laid her eyes upon.' She was surprised when both Kisame and Itachi were not as intrigued in the spar as her.

"You think you can go faster than me, yeah?" Deidara questioned and seemed to puff up his chest as though trying to assert himself as the man between the two.

"I know that I can go faster then that," Sakura grinned tersely and laughed when Deidara's chest deflated as he chuckled.

Deidara turned to Sasori, "Looks like we have a true Akatsuki member here, yeah. I commend you for spotting that in her. I would have just blown her up or something just as remarkable."

Sasori smirked, "And that is why my art is the better." Deidara sneered.

Sakura grinned as she watched the two banter with each other as though they were an old, married couple. They reminded her of Naruto and Sasuke at times, but they were… better. She didn't voice the married couple thought though, it might have stopped the amusing rants from ever happening in front of her again. She didn't want that. "Boys," Sakura inadvertently said with a smirk, "We should get going." Deidara turned to her and grinned while gesturing as his lips. She blinked as realization set in. Sakura was a little bit shocked; she didn't think she was the type to ever smirk. These people were actually rubbing off on her.

Sasori nodded giving Deidara a dirty look before they took to the canopy again. Sakura noted that they were going at a much faster pace now and that she was thrilled that she was being pushed closer to her limits. Her joints ached, her newly mended skin groaned in aggravation, her medical grogginess faded, her breath quickened and she loved every second of it. The only ones who had ever even tried to push her to her limits were her Shishou, Shizune, Ikibi and Genma and even they hadn't pushed her quite like this. Sparring and getting beaten down to the ground by legends was nothing new to her, but this simple act of running was a pure thrill.

Three hours later and Sakura reckoned they had reached their destination. If the smoke pollution in the air wasn't an indication of an industrial village where big business men thrived then she didn't know what was. She plugged her nose in irritation as she landed on a thick branch with a quick dissolving of her chakra.

They stood in the trees over looking the tiny factory town. Right above the rooftops seemed to be a permanent layer of smoke that couldn't be blown away by the wind. All of the vegetation between where they stood and the outer limits of the town were long dead and it didn't seem like it had any chance to grow back. "What is this place? I didn't think Fire Country had any of these…"

"Legally and to the extent of the higher officials documented knowledge, you do not have towns like this. That is why the smoke is trapped; no indication to those that do not live around here that this place even exists. This is how the business man we are looking for has gained all of his money."

"One man owns this whole town?" Sakura asked and turned to Sasori.

"Yeah, his word is the power here. The people are his to exploit since they are all refugees that were desperate for shelter and he provided all of this to them, yeah."

Sakura nodded and turned to Deidara with a frown on her face, "What a horrible man."

Sasori and Deidara seemed to exchange grins before they all jumped down to the forest ground and appeared from the tree line. Almost instantly they were surrounded by a group of rogue shinobi. "State your business," one of them bellowed with a large sword hefted over his shoulder.

"Seems like Yukari was expecting us," Deidara grinned as his fingers fidgeted and reach into the pouch sitting on his hip.

'Yukari, Yukari…' Sakura thought, 'The name seems a little bit familiar.'

The rogue nin with the large sword asked no more as he signaled and they all launched a simultaneous attack. Sakura parried their random blows easily with her own kunai and concentrated chakra into her first. Within two minutes three nin laid around her with mangled chests and shattered skulls. She breathed deeply and looked up to see that Deidara and Sasori together had taken out the rest. She frowned then; she needed to pick up her game if she wanted to be acknowledged as anything with these people. Punching wasn't efficient, cutting was and she hadn't managed to perfect the chakra scalpel quite yet. "Yeah, Yukari sure is paranoid," Deidara laughed at his own irony, "Let's go find him. After all the man is expecting us, yeah. Wouldn't want to disappoint."

Sakura walked between the two men as they stalked into the town walls. She tilted her hat up slightly to gaze down the empty alleys. The streets were bare of people, bare of laughter and bare of any sign of life at all. Sakura could sense the people milling about in their homes, but otherwise one could mistake this place for a ghost town. The hat dropped back down to hide her eyes. "Yukari rules this place with an iron fist. No one dares to cross him unless they wish to be evicted and then killed by those rogue nin he has for hire. He takes the money that the people earn and gives them only enough to survive."

"Ah…" Sakura replied as she bit her lip. It was eerie; the town didn't even contain a semblance of a breeze to swish her cloak. As they walked down the street she could see the people peeking out of their windows and staring at the three moving figures. She could hear the whispering that was taking place; she could sense the distrust and the fear that lingered.

The two people beside her suddenly stopped and she looked up before her. Unlike the rest of the houses within the broken town, the one that stood before her almost seemed to be built up in gold. The gate before them was glistening in the filtered light that shone through the smoke cloud and beyond that the house gleamed in a tarnished, golden sheen. "As idiotic as always," Sasori murmured at the grand display and giant bull's eye that the building represented.

It was easy enough to jump over the gate and enter the courtyard. It was even easier to enter the house. When Deidara simply pushed the door open she noticed that all of the corners of the foyer had maids and housemen cowering in fear from their very presence. She tensed as she saw them look up with apprehension. All of the rogues that Yukari had had for hire apparently had been there to greet them when they had come from the forest. 'Only a disorganized and inexperienced ensemble would have been foolish enough for that move.'

Sasori and Deidara did not miss a beat when they walked up the ordained stairs that split to the left and the right. Sakura nearly laughed at how simply dainty the place was and laughed even more at how cheesy and rich this man had to be. The foyer looked like it came right out of a child's fairytale book. Sasori and Deidara both veered to the right staircase and continued on through the house without any hesitation in direction. When the maids and housemen at the bottom thought they were out of earshot the whispering began.

"Can you sense him Sakura?" Sasori asked calmly.

Sakura pursed her lips and concentrated on a signal that was unlike the others, "I sense a faint chakra signal that isn't disorganized like that of a civilian's, is he a shinobi?"

Sasori shook his head, "No, he did not have the mind set nor the courage to become one. Cowardly he is, but he still keeps in contact with the shinobi world as though he knows how it works."

"Understood."

Deidara threw open the last door in the corridor with a loud bang and Sakura raised her eyebrows as she saw the man who was huddled up in his chair shaking from fear with his face hidden in his lap. Sasori sighed from exasperation and rubbed his temples with his pointer finger and thumb. "Yeah, look what rat I found," Deidara grinned dramatically as he took long strides into the masterpiece of a room. The man whimpered as Deidara approached him, "You thought that those nin you bought would have really slowed us down, yeah?"

Deidara grabbed the man's collar and shook him as the man cried out from fear. The Explosives User lifted him into the light. Sakura gasped, "Yukari, I thought I recognized that name, you're Asahashi Yukari!"

The man looked up at her with tears in his eyes and a tremble in his lips. He realized that the voice beneath the cloak was feminine. A glimmer of hope shone in his eyes. "He deals in the world of the shinobi," Sasori restated as he shifted his eyes to look down at Sakura's conflicting ones. A smirk tugged at his lips as he turned his eyes back at Deidara who was having much too much fun shaking the man back and forth while still hanging him in the air.

"But he is allied with the elders of Konoha! He helps fund some of our security operations in the Fire Country, Asahashi Yukari is a good man," Sakura muttered loudly, her eyes opening wider as she gazed at the man she had seen around the Hokage tower on numerous occasions. He had been much more composed the times that she had seen him, like a true businessman.

Sasori smirked without looking at her, "Where do you think he got his extravagant funds from?" For Sasori and the Akatsuki, everything was going exactly as they had planned.

Sakura hissed, "He took all of it from these hard working people," she stated with a sneer, a gesture back out towards the foyer and then she took a step forward. The man whimpered loudly in Deidara's grasp realizing that she was not going to pity him. "He played a whole council, he told us he got his money from honest business. He convinced us that he was a good man, we believed he was a good man."

"Not everything is what it seems, yeah," Deidara grinned as he shook the man in his hand around again only to laugh at the man's distressed calls. The man yelled out in terror again grasping at Deidara's clenching fingers and wrist while trying to pry the fingers from his collar. His voice could not be found when Deidara tightened his grip further.

Sakura's face tensed and then scrunched up, anger suddenly radiated through her and before she knew what she was doing the seals were being formed on her hands. They were slow and deliberate compared to her normal seal making speed. Deidara and Sasori both grinned as they backed away from Asahashi Yukari and the kunoichi, respectively. "Suffer, you heinous, lying bastard," she growled as the last seal was performed.

The genjutsu didn't have nearly the same effect that Itachi's did; she lacked the power of the sharingan. The wounds didn't come about deeply and fatally, but they were shallow and slow and the man cried out in pain. Sakura approached him quickly as Deidara quirked an eyebrow at her behavior. When the man was about to pass out she touched his forehead with her fingers and ignited his consciousness. His eyes widened as he realized that he couldn't just sleep through the pain of death. Sakura smirked as she tilted her hat up, "Remember my eyes Asahashi?" His mouth gaped and his eyes quivered as the blood ran. Sakura decided that she sort of liked her version of the jutsu better.

When the man's breathing finally ceased and his screams faded, Sakura realized what she had just done, what had just happened. She jumped back and stared at her hands as they convulsed. Looking up at the river of blood that was flowing from the man she had thought was a kind, gentle spirit she shuddered before backing up to the door where Sasori was watching her. "Time to collect our pay, yeah," Deidara grinned as he riffled through the drawers. Sakura's hands continued to shake when Sasori's hand landed on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"That was interesting," Sasori stated with a grin. Sakura stared at the blood laced on her fingers.

In the end they had left with all of the money that had been promised to the Akatsuki and left the rest to the people of the village. Sakura's hands were still shaking as they returned into the trees. It wasn't just because she had killed the man; no…she had killed many men before but never in displays as brutal. She shuddered because she understood now that the Akatsuki, although they did do unforgivable deeds, terrible things and murdered people more often than not, were not purely evil. And even worse, that Konoha was not purely good.

_Evil_

Itachi and Kisame had already settled back into the house when the three had returned. Sakura had stripped off her shoes in a daze and had promptly gone to the bedroom she shared with Sasori and laid down in the bed, bloody cloak and all. Sasori exchanged a look with Itachi before following Sakura. Kisame was instantly hushed by a wave of Itachi's hand. Deidara joined the two in the living area with shining eyes and a story to tell. Sasori entered his bedroom and sat in his chair silently. He knew what was going through her head and failed to disturb her as his puppet parts clinked together.

Sakura stared up at the ceiling again, but she wasn't counting the speckles or making any drawings and shapes. She was thinking about all the times she had seen Asahashi Yukari at the Hokage tower. How he had funded security in the Fire Country. How he had led the council to believe that he was truly a kind, benevolent person giving them his own money.

'Or was it that he funded security so that his town would always be secure, kept off of the radar. That the elders know about the town and still abided to his wants because his money out weighed all of the horrible deeds he was doing in one small, insignificant place with insignificant people.' Sakura was sure that her Shishou did not know about this, absolutely sure. Her Shishou was righteous enough to not allow something like that to happen, but the elders… the elders were not above doing something like that. Sakura knew this; she knew this because the elders were not above trying to kill a child because he had had the kyuubi sealed within him at birth.

Her eyes hardened as her mind continued to race through all of the options, including the one where her Shishou had been fully aware of Asahashi Yukari's actions.

Drifting out of her revere Sakura turned her head to look at the desk Sasori had sat down at. She paused as she saw that he was gone and that the desk was clear of puppet parts. Grunting Sakura stood up; it seemed as though she had been so immersed in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed his movements. "Sasori?" she whispered as she walked out of the bedroom while shedding her cloak.

Laughter was echoing down the hall, and although Sakura had heard it a few times before, individually from each person, she was sure that when the laughter mixed together it turned into a maniacal laugh, but at the same time it sounded much friendlier.

She trotted down the hall and peaked into the living area and nearly burst out into a fit of giggles at the sight. It seemed like not all of her ideas of what "evil" people did in their free time, from movies and the such, had been destroyed in her two weeks with the Akatsuki. The four Akatsuki members were sitting around the table playing poker and gambling up a storm. Kisame was cursing like usual.

Her stifled laughs reached the males and they all looked up at her. Itachi's eyes were more observant than usual, but she didn't question the man. 'He is probably judging my insanity at the very moment. After all, my level of insanity after today would fit right in about now.'

She turned her eyes past Itachi and wouldn't have been shocked if Kisame was also smoking a cigar, but alas, he was not. "Are you going to join the game bitch? Or are you going to keep mopping around."

The other three chuckled as Sakura fully stepped into the room, "Count me in," she grinned as she wedged herself in between Sasori and Deidara with a manly grunt and wiggle of her butt. Deidara grinned and placed his arm on the seat behind her with a wink. Sakura smacked him playfully on the shoulder as he chuckled.

Kisame grinned again as he rested his chin on the knuckles of his hands. "We play for stakes, what should it be this round?" he asked.

Deidara tilted his chin up and a serious expression crossed his face, he nodded his head, "Strip poker, yeah."

Everyone burst out laughing as Sakura blanched and shook her head. 'Never mind, these people are just plain messed up,' Sakura thought as her objections to the stakes of the game were overruled.

In the end Kisame had lost. Sakura was sure she had seen more of him than she had ever needed to see. Sasori and Itachi hadn't striped anything at all. She hadn't been too shocked; no one had a poker face to the Puppet Master and the Uchiha genius. Sakura was just happy that she hadn't lost… that badly. Deidara's naked chest had had a field day.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Eleven out of twelve months left Naruto. That's more than a long while left."

"How dare any of you people say that you miss her! You don't even know what it means to miss someone!"

"I heard you got engaged while I was gone."

"I don't know about that, after all the only person Sakura tags the adorable title of sensei to is still only you Kakashi, only you."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

This is one of my favorite chapters so far as well. This may have been the second time to say it, but I mean come on. Don't you love it when Sakura is actually doing something? Those who are keeping up with the manga know what I'm talking about : D

I'm in love with Deidara o-o. I just said it o-o, when I had started this whole entire experience I didn't think that Deidara would be such an intriguing character to write. I was soo, sooo wrong.

This is a really short chapter isn't it? Oh well, I hope you all liked!

Edit: Replaced because of a whole cow load of spelling mistakes. Otherwise nothing else changed : D


	10. Missing

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: Thank you to those that reviewed! I loved you all! I'm glad the last chapter was such a hit!

* * *

Chapter 10: Missing

Naruto sat before five empty bowls of ramen and was quickly working on his sixth. He gurgled and gulped as the substance slid down his throat and into his stomach. He placed his chopsticks back down on the counter with a loud smack before he rubbed his stomach in utter glee. Taking in a big breath he grinned and called for another one loudly. When the seventh bowl arrived, Naruto took it with both of his hands eagerly. He was about to dig into his favorite dish when he took a look around and at his two teammates. Beside him to his right was Kakashi and on the other side was Sasuke. Naruto swallowed a chopstick full of ramen before setting the utensil down carefully and quietly. Ayame looked up perpetuated at the turn of events before she scurried into the back to warn her father that their ramen might have been poisoned.

The atmosphere around the other two teammates was dark and dreary, a severe contrast to Naruto's joy in eating ramen. "Hey, hey," Naruto chirped trying to lighten the mood, "Don't get so down. Only eleven more months until we can go and find Sakura-chan!" His voice cracked slightly as the happiness faded swiftly. The atmosphere was now stifling and Ayame could even feel it as she peaked out from the back to observe. She blinked once before she retracted her head knowing that she didn't want to get caught up in the matter.

Sasuke didn't even bother fighting back with a retort; all the sharingan user managed to do was turn his dark eyes towards the usually infinitely happy boy and glower at him. In the next instant Sasuke had stood up and had walked out of the stand leaving behind a little pile of cash meant for his untouched bowl of ramen. Naruto stared at the cold bowl and frowned as he turned his gaze up to his best friend. Sasuke had already blended in with the darkness of the night.

Kakashi sighed before stating the obvious, "Eleven out of twelve months left Naruto. That's more than a long while left."

Naruto looked up at Kakashi and grinned hopefully, "See that's the terrible thing about you and teme. You two keep on thinking that eleven months left is such a terrible thing, but I seem to think that its one month less than what it was one month ago." Naruto continued to smile, but Kakashi could see right through the façade.

"You don't need to fake anything Naruto. All of us miss Sakura," Kakashi muttered poking his ramen with his chopsticks. He had tried to eat at the beginning, but the endeavor had nearly cost him the privacy of his face, when he had reacted too slowly, so he had stopped any means of consumption. 'Although I'm sure than none of them were trying to look anyways…'

"Of course I miss Sakura-chan! But that doesn't mean that we should…" Kakashi tossed the blond boy a bland look. Naruto's smile instantly fell off of his face as he turned to his half finished bowl of ramen. His shoulders slumped down ever so slightly as he wrung his own hands. It was different when you were lying to yourself and when other people were lying to you. "Yah, I… I just don't know anymore Kakashi-sensei. Does it ever stop hurting? Missing someone while they are away?" Suddenly he didn't feel so hungry anymore. Kakashi was about to reply in the negative but he was rudely interrupted.

It was then that a swish was heard and Ino nearly stomped into the stand with her hands clenched into fists and her face red with fury. "MISS HER?" she roared and literally grabbed Naruto's collar, dragged him out of his chair and threw him out of the restaurant.

Kakashi sweat dropped as he heard the crunch of chips from the outside and the low muttering of "How troublesome…" He took the frog coin purse that he was holding in his hand and set down the appropriate amount of money on the table before he calmly stood up and walked outside to stare at what Sakura's best friend and greatest rival was going to do to his most hyperactive student.

Ino was searing mad as she grabbed Naruto again and continued to shake him by his collar. "How dare any of you three say that you miss her?" Ino shrieked as she bashed him over the head with her other fist. Naruto groaned in agony as he tried to fend off the attack without hurting the girl. Kakashi flinched knowing that the only reason that the girl wasn't also throttling him was because he was superior to her in age and rank. Ino let go of Naruto as he fell to the floor in a daze. "You don't even know what it means to miss someone!"

"I-Ino?" Naruto managed to blurt out still not quite understanding why the crazy blond woman had just attacked him. He rubbed at the bump on his head and tried to clear his vision again.

Chouji and Shikamaru winced as tears sprung up in Ino's eyes. "You don't know what it means to miss someone," Ino began to blubber, "At least you three…" she pointed at Kakashi, Naruto and off to the horizon where Sasuke had probably disappeared,

'That was how she had found us,' Kakashi mused as he stared at the accusing finger, 'Then again where else can Naruto be found?'

"…As her team…" she spat the last word out, "know where she is. At least you three know what she's doing and if she's in alright!" Kakashi blinked as she began jabbing her finger in all directions again before hanging her head and crying into her palms.

"Actually Ino, we don't know if Sakura is alright," Naruto muttered.

Kakashi rolled his eyes slightly, 'That boy has no self preservation.' He had to keep on with the inner snide comments. If he didn't, the Yamanaka's words would register in his head and he wouldn't be able to wrestle himself away from the cenotaph the next time he went.

"Ino… calm down," Shikamaru stated but not before backing away slightly in preparation for her next attack.

His move proved to be smart as she whipped around to glare at him through glassy eyes. "SHIKAMARU! How am I supposed to calm down when these three don't even know what it means to miss someone when missing someone comes in two years..." she managed to get out between her suppressed whimpers and her accusing jabs. Shikamaru sighed before deeming it safe, approaching her again and winding an arm around her shoulder.

Kakashi didn't noticeably tense at Ino's declaration but he decided to remove himself from the scene lest the rabid blond kunoichi turn all her anger on him. The next time would seem to be now anyways. With a puff of smoke he was gone. As Shikamaru had so dutifully declared, Kakashi didn't like dealing with troublesome things either.

"You need to calm down Ino. You're just a little bit flustered from your last mission and its messing with your head."

Ino sobbed as she clenched onto his shirt and buried her face into the boy's shoulder. "There was just so much blood Sh-Shikamaru…"

"I know," Shikamaru stated soothingly as he awkwardly patted her on the head, "I know. How troublesome." Unlike his usual exasperated tone while uttering his favorite expression, his voice took on a comforting air.

Chouji paused for a moment as he went through his bag of chips, "She has a point too, you know."

Shikamaru looked up from where Ino was still crying in his arms and rolled his eyes up to the sky, "How troublesome…" he muttered, back to his usual aggravated self, as Ino hunched and clutched tighter at his vest and began to soak it with her tears. Shikamaru sighed again as he turned back to Naruto who was just getting back on his feet. His coin purse was suddenly back in his possession. "She does have a point," Shikamaru repeated with a shrug.

Ino's muffled voice came from his chest, "Of course I have a point!" she wailed and then huge sobs could be heard from her throat as Naruto stared at her as through she was an alien. "It doesn't matter what happened otherwise, I always have a point." Shikamaru grunted as she pounded her fist into his chest and cursed his weaknesses for his teammates.

"What do you mean missing someone is not missing anyone unless its two years," Naruto questioned, "Missing someone is missing them no matter how long the wait!"

"You left for two years Naruto," Ino managed to get out between garbled sobs and a hiccup or two. It seemed as though she had calmed down ever so slightly. "You, Kakashi and Sasuke-kun all left for two years. She missed you three so much for those two long years and right now you're sad and complaining about one measly month."

Naruto gapped at her like a fish as her head finally left Shikamaru's chest and she turned her burning blue eyes at him. Shikamaru sighed, "Ino…I don't think that you should be…"

His placating comment came too late and Ino had already tackled Naruto back down to the ground. She hadn't calmed down at all. "You left her alone for two years!" she screamed as she pounded on Naruto's chest, "At least right now you still have your sensei, at least right now you still have your best friend," Ino paused before her eyes narrowed, "You've only ever cared about those two in the end."

Naruto couldn't stop himself from retorting loudly while pushing Ino off of him, "I love Sakura-chan! I love her and I care about her and I miss her. It's you who doesn't care about her," Naruto blurted out angrily, "You don't even know anything about Sakura-chan. You don't even know why she's gone!"

Ino paused, Chouji sighed as his bag emptied just in time for the big show and Shikamaru took a step toward his female teammate. "I… I don't care about forehead?" Ino muttered slowly her fingers digging into the ground.

"Ino, you're going to ruin your nails," Chouji stated quickly; it was the easiest way to make sure that the girl didn't injure herself. Ino immediately released her fingers from the dirt but her hands continued to wring into her skirt.

Her head slowly, almost mechanically turned toward Naruto and her eyes narrowed. Chouji grabbed her around the waist as she tried to pounce on him again. "I might not know anything about her now," Ino roared her hair flying in disarray, "But I know that even after all of the terrible things I did, all of the terrible things we did to each other, that I have never hurt her nearly as much as when all three of you left her without ever looking back! When all of you decided to leave her behind." Ino kicked her legs and tried to fight again Chouji's strong grip but he held on as her energy drained out of her.

"Ino lets go," Shikamaru whispered as he saw that she was about to dissolve into tears again.

Chouji smiled and set her gently on the ground, he kept her hand on her arm so that she wouldn't topple over, "Asuma-sensei is going to treat as to barbeque again, that should cheer you up Ino!" Shikamaru wrapped his arm around her waist from the other side and pulled her away from the kyuubi vessel.

"You might also need a psycho analysis after that mission. It's obvious that you're a little bit more angry than usual," Shikamaru muttered and then winced when Ino smacked him in the arm.

"No psycho analysis!"

"He was joking Ino…" Chouji stated as he pulled her harder. He didn't have chips and he wanted to go join Asuma-sensei.

Ino looked at her teammates and back to Naruto as they dragged her away, "You see… this is what a real team is supposed to be like…" she muttered as tears continued to run down her face.

"I…" Naruto tried to splutter out in a reply, but the trio wasn't even listening anymore. They were talking about Asuma-sensei and Sakura; they needed to get away from the blond boy before their blond girl decided to have another spasm. Naruto stood there dumbfounded as he watched Team 10 stumble down the road and into the darkness laughing as though nothing had just happened.

In those moments that he stood there, he thought about the last time that he had laughed with Sakura like that. He couldn't remember.

He thought about the last time they had shared a meal with Sakura within the walls of Konoha. There had been no laughing; there had been no reminiscing. No one had even truly asked her what she had been doing in the past two years that her team had abandoned her. All they did in that time was talk about her, talk about her in a nasty way, talk about her with assumptions that turned out not to be true.

Naruto shook his head and clenched his fists, dispelling the thoughts quickly as he began making his way home. 'Desperate thoughts and wishing that things had been different won't get me anywhere anymore,' Naruto thought as his eyelids clenched tightly. When he opened them, the cerulean blue was less clouded than it had been before.

Later he stumbled back to his little apartment with his empty frog coin purse and collapsed onto his bed with a resounding huff. His energy was gone for the moment but his eyes shined with determination, "Sakura-chan… I know that I'm not perfect and I'm sorry for that," Naruto murmured as he gazed at the flashing red numbers of his clock. He had wandered around for much longer than he had initially thought, "In trying to become better, in trying to beat teme, we left you like everyone had left me when I was younger. And for that I'm sorry."

He turned around in his bed and curled up into a ball, "I'll make it up to you the next time we meet Sakura-chan, it's a promise!"

_Missing_

"I'm sorry I'm late, I got lost on the road of life." The moment that Kakashi had teleported away from the rabid angry blond kunoichi, he had appeared before the cenotaph. It had been a long time since he had been here, nearly two whole days. He'd been distracted by various ordeals and absentminded, two things that Hatake Kakashi was definitely not known or ever wished to be known for, but he was sure that his old teammates wouldn't blame him for not coming. He was absolutely sure as a matter of fact. "It's been a long couple of days here in the world of the living, though I'm sure you'd rather be here than there."

Kakashi stood with his hands in his pocket as he thought specifically about the reasons why the days felt as though they expanded through the recesses of forever, 'Sakura…' and hoped that Obito, Minato and Rin could hear his thoughts as well. Even if they could, or if they couldn't, he'd know that they would understand and Obito probably would have beat him over the head for how many mistakes he had made.

The past few days had specifically been filled with thoughts about Sakura and about how he was as a teacher to her. "I don't think that I was a strong enough person to hold so many lives upon my shoulders," Kakashi murmured hoping that this particular comment was heard by his own late sensei. "I don't know how you managed to deal with us."

_"Sakura, when we get back from this mission. I'll train with you. I'll show you all that you should know, all that I should have taught you long ago other than climbing trees and walking on water. When we get back Sakura, I will be the sensei that I haven't been for the three years we've known each other."_

Kakashi winced at the memory and realized that he hadn't seen everything he should have seen, he hadn't been the one to look underneath the underneath. Something had to have changed with Sakura in the two years they were gone. He knew something had to have the moment that their kunoichi didn't tackle Sasuke in a hug when they had first seen her in the Hokage's office and he had to, if nothing else, have pointed to the fact that she was now strong, had he have noticed that she seemed uninterested in his offer. His mind had been clouded by the rapidly developing events that had occurred in the Hokage's office, there wasn't a chance to second-guess what he believed to be true. He knew now that she had been terribly uninterested. She had given up on _him_.

But in Kakashi's good will that night, that perspective had passed right over his head. In his hotheadedness and in his want to redeem himself he had mistaken Sakura's indifference in his offer as her being her old, shy, weak self. He had thought that she had felt humbled by his offer; he had thought that she had thought of herself too weak to take on one on one training with him. He had been _wrong_. "My world is turning upside down Obito. How can this happen so many times in just one life span?"

Kakashi ran a hand over his face and continued to stare at the cenotaph. He wondered if Rin had ever felt the way that Sakura must of felt when it came to her two powerful teammates and famous sensei. Kakashi shook his head, "Obito had never made Rin feel that way, Obito had loved her too much. And Rin had been a medical nin, everyone had known that she was a medical nin and therefore was an important and irreplaceable part of the team.' Kakashi sighed at the irony, if only he had known. But everything he was thinking now was just an excuse for his _inexcusable_ actions.

"You spend too much time moping around here," someone called from the trees.

Kakashi sighed as he heard the grinding of teeth against metal and turned to face one of his closer acquaintances, Shiranui Genma. "I heard you got engaged while I was gone," Kakashi muttered back. He hadn't seen the man around the village for the past month that he had been back. He pondered why, but shrugged off the notion. He didn't know if he ever wanted to know. The man, after all, was known for his procreating skill and now that he had a fiancé…

Genma rolled his eyes and pushed away from the tree that he was leaning against with his foot, "Yah, I asked the girl that I love if she wanted to marry me and she said yes. I got a whole lot of hell from it, but in the end I'm happy. However, that's not the point and has nothing to do with your moping."

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders; "I find that detail very amusing. I didn't think you were the type to settle down."

Genma grinned, "And I find your student very amusing."

"Naruto?"

Genma resisted the urge to twitch at Kakashi's innocent assertion before he laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Nah, I mean he's funny too, but I like Sakura better." Kakashi had been wrong yet again. He hadn't seen Genma because Genma hadn't wanted to see him.

"Is that so?"

"Yah, hey do you want to go grab a drink, talk about a couple of things?" Genma grunted as he turned his head away from the cenotaph and towards the town center.

"Your house or mine?"

"I say the Hokage's office, Shizune told me where Tsunade-sama keeps her sake and told me to get rid of it. Let's draw on the opportunity."

Kakashi managed to let out a laugh before nodding. He turned back to the cenotaph one last time and gave a nod to it hoping that his old team wasn't mad that he had only spent two hours there talking to them before catching up to Genma. Genma had one hand lightly resting on the senbon in his mouth when Kakashi caught up to him and the other hand was in his pocket. "Talking to yourself again?"

"You've heard then…"

"Of course I did, why do you think I know why you've been moping around like a lost dog?" Genma snorted, "You're becoming more like Pakkun as the days pass by."

"You know about Sakura?"

"Course I do. Did you think I was misinterpreting you or something?"

"I thought that she was supposed to have been kept a confidential case."

"She was," Genma shrugged and then grinned at Kakashi, "I was one of her sensei's." Kakashi blinked as Genma looked away from him and muttered lowly with a trained and barely accusatory tone, "And I must say, for having the copy nin as a sensei, the little sprite had been pretty weak. Totally neglected. Distasteful considering just how talented she was, hm?" He hadn't wanted to see Kakashi because he knew that his first response would have been to punch one of his closest friends in the face.

_Missing_

Genma swished his sake around slightly before taking another swallow and setting it down on the table. Beside the table was a small crate with four bottles of sake and across from him was Kakashi who was calmly going through his bottle as well. "So, I would guess that you know the basics of what happened to Sakura while you were gone," Genma inquired with a raise of his eyebrow. He calmly looked at the copy nin as the man slumped over his own bottle of sake. His words had hit a cord and Genma was glad that he had learned virtuous patience from his fiancée; this was much more gratifying then a single punch, which would have led to a fight where he would have gotten beaten into the ground.

Kakashi nodded, "Lots to take in."

Genma laughed cheerily, "I don't think you've taken in anything yet. So you've heard that she's strong right? Like hellava strong!" Genma took another swallow of sake and leaned back in his chair. He had figuratively smacked the copy nin over the head, now they could be friends again.

"Tsunade-like strength…" Kakashi muttered and took another swing.

Genma laughed and shrugged, "Okay, physically strong but I was talking about other things as well." Genma prided himself in the fact that Kakashi cared enough about him that he took off his mask in his presence even if Kakashi only liked to call him a close acquaintance.

"Medical skills as well," Kakashi muttered. Silence over took the two as Kakashi swirled the intoxicating liquid around in his dish. Genma gave him a small smile through the awkward silence. He knew what the copy nin was trying to build up to. "So how was she as a student?"

Genma grinned, "She was a little bit… undetermined at first. Not totally understanding the physical concept of why she had to do certain things, but with the right motivation she learned quicker than a newly appointed genin. Ha, motivation…" Genma chuckled at the memories.

"I guess that's what I never gave her, the right kind of motivation. Naruto and Sasuke already had all the motivation in the world to learn, Sakura didn't and I didn't see that. I just automatically pegged her as being naturally weak despite the chakra control and the giant forehead of hers."

Genma shrugged and patted Kakashi on the shoulder, "Don't mope so much about it man, Sakura turned out great. That forehead really did house quite a big brain. She found the right motivation to get help eventually through… being left behind as she liked to call it…"

Kakashi winced as he took another swing of his sake and rubbed his temples, "God I was a terrible teacher…"

Genma smiled sadly at his suffering friend, "No you weren't Kakashi. You did the best you could have with what you were given. If it had been anyone else, I'm sure that Sakura may not have even been around to make you feel bad. If it had been anyone else that had the Kyuubi and the last Uchiha to deal with, they would have shunned the idea and went on with their lives." Only while saying it did Genma realize just how well Kakashi had done with the cards he had been dealt, but still, the dig at the man was deserved, if not for his cards, then for the fact that he had thrown one of them away.

"You're just saying that," Kakashi laughed and leaned back on his chair, "I'm pretty sure if you had gotten them that they would have ended up better than this… god I swear when she gets back, I'll be better. I'll try to be better."

Genma laughed with a slight bitter edge and shrugged, "I don't know about being better Kakashi. You're kind of already pushing the limits here and I'm speaking the truth. You did the best you could and that left at least some kind of an impression on her, after all the only person Sakura tags the adorable title of sensei onto is still only you Kakashi, only you."

Kakashi looked up at Genma and saw the genuine kindness in the man eyes. Kakashi managed a laugh and give a sigh of relief, "When did you figure out what the right thing to say was?"

Genma burst out laughing, "When I got a fiancée."

_Missing_

Sasuke punched the wall he was facing. The tomoe in his eyes began to spin rapidly as he sat down on his bed and placed his head between the palms of his hands. He hated this feeling. His head ached and his whole entire body seemed like it didn't want to listen to him. His heart was beating faster than normal and thoughts were invading his mind when he knew they shouldn't of have.

Sasuke stood up again with a snarl and walked toward the kitchen where he grabbed a glass of water. Leaning against the counter he scanned the room as his eyes deactivated and turned back to their onyx black. The only thing he could see in his peripheral vision was pink, pink and the brilliant shine of emerald green. Those were the two colors that had also haunted him while he had been away for the two years with Kakashi, but just not nearly as much. Before it had been tolerable, now it was just… it infuriated him. He just didn't understand it at all.

He chewed on his own lip as he saw Sakura scurrying in front of him trying to make food for him when they had been little, right before he had left. She had included his favorite food, tomatoes, and had managed to make something pretty appetizing. Her cooking skill actually had kind of reminded him of his own mother's. He had enjoyed the meal, although he hadn't told her so unlike Naruto had. Sasuke continued to stare at the image of Sakura and to his absolute astonishment the girl morphed right before his very eyes and he saw her while she was making food for him in the future.

Sakura would smile at him, that smile that was reserved only for him as she bustled around the kitchen. In his vision Sasuke saw that he was helping her with the cooking because her stomach was bulging out with his first Uchiha heirs and she would be glowing with the shine of a soon to be mother.

Sasuke bit his lip again as he threw his glass into the sink. The loud sound knocked him out of his thoughts as he trudged to the living room and sat down on his old couch. Once again he saw pink and green.

She would be on the couch with him and he would be lying down. His head would be comfortably nestled on her lap and she would be laughing her magical twinkling laugh. She would smile down at him as his eyes were trained on what was in his arms. His first son would be garbling at him as he played with him and his son would have his black hair and her beautiful emerald eyes. He would then turn his eyes to his wife; the two people that he loved the most in his whole life would be there with him. Naruto and Kakashi would be coming over for dinner later on and then everyone that mattered to him would be present.

Sasuke shook his head again as he angrily stared at the black wall. All the colors in his thoughts were gone as the wind outside shook against the walls of the house and rattled the shingles of his roof. He was being ridiculous. He didn't even _love_ the woman. 'You just never expect for something so stable and secure to go away…' and then over reactions to such events led to Sasuke's hallucinating state. But he never would have succumbed to such delusions in the past, never would have wanted it so badly. 'I could learn to love her,' he thought, because the image in his head was just too _happy_ to not want it to be true.

Going on that trip with Kakashi had done Sasuke a lot of good when it came to realizing who he was and the people that mattered the most. But at times, times like this where he could register the feelings of loss and want that surpassed his want to kill his brother he wished that he wasn't able to feel at all. It would have made this whole ordeal easier. He could continue not thinking that he loved the woman and his mind would be able to rest in piece. There would be no more pink and green flashing before his eyes.

It was times like this, when he had the greatest connections to the people around him, that he wished he had severed them all by leaving the village over two years ago and joining the Snake Sannin in his journey for power. But that wasn't really the case, that want was only driven by _fear_, fear that they would all be taken away from him again; he now wouldn't give up his friends for anything. His hand clenched as his knuckles turned white.

Sasuke stood up again feeling restless as he trudged back to where his bed was and laid down. His visions would have to be altered, because when Sakura came back to him…

Just like how when Itachi would be killed by his hand…

When Sakura came back to him she wouldn't be the weak and motherly type that he had always implanted into his future. When Sakura would come back he wouldn't even be in love with her anymore. The happiness would still happen, 'I need it to still happen,' but it would be different. It had to play out different for any of it to make any sense. The Sakura now would definitely fit in differently into his happy future. The Sakura who was strong, the Sakura who was a medical nin and the Sakura who didn't ask him out on a date every chance she got.

Sasuke closed his eyes and tried to imagine that future. The future where he knew he wouldn't be having children with green eyes. The future where they would still all be on Team Kakashi, assigned together for all of the major missions of the village. He imagined Sakura as she smiled at him with that same bright smile, the one that was only for him. And then he frowned.

He couldn't see it.

"I'll make it happen…" Sasuke muttered as he rolled over on his bed and glared at the black wall. 'Stupid mind…' Pink flashed in his peripheral.

_Missing_

Sakura heaved deeply, her shoulders and chest rising then falling as she faced off against Kisame who was grinning at her with his sword sitting on his shoulder. "You're done already bitch?" He mocked. Sakura snarled at him as green chakra flooded her body and healed all of her wounds. Kisame raised an eyebrow before shrugging it off; she had done it many times before. He just hadn't thought that she still had enough chakra to do such a thing.

"Keep bringing it on," Sakura murmured darkly and raised her fists into the air. Kisame laughed and hefted the Samehada off of his shoulder to hold it before him once again.

"You asked for it."

Sasori sat on the edge of the clearing tinkering with his nearly completed puppet. The compartments were coming together nicely and seamlessly and he was pleased with the result. He was glad that he had managed to find such a strong human in the time constraints he had been given. He proceeded to perfect the finish on the weapon.

Deidara was huffing slightly at his lack of action. His breath constantly blew his bangs out of his face and his arms were crossed as he leaned back on a tree with his feet outstretched. "Kisame no danna is taking longer than usual to take her down, yeah."

Itachi who was also sitting on the ground with his legs crossed and meditating slowly opened his eyes to observe the action in front of them. Sakura had been reduced down to her fists in the fight. Kisame was taking no crap from her after the first couple of times he had gotten sucked into her genjutsu and his speed far exceeded her seal making capabilities. 'I will need to fix that eventually,' Itachi mused as Sakura flung herself under the Samehada's arc and landed an upper cut to Kisame's chin. The man reeled back slightly but other wise there had been no indication that her attack had even been chakra enhanced. 'Though she is reading his moves flawlessly now…'

"She is improving, that is why," Sasori replied as he allowed for his chakra strings to connect to the most advantageous parts of the puppet. He smirked at the result. 'Sadly nothing will be able to replace Hiruko, too far damaged…'

"I want to fight her again Sasori no danna, un."

"You do not understand moderation Deidara," Itachi replied for the Puppet Master, "You nearly killed her a couple times."

"I'll moderate this time then, un."

Sasori shook his head, "We need her alive and in working order. That is the only way to succeed."

Deidara scowled slightly before turning his nose at the two, "Fine, un. But I want to spar with her again eventually."

"In due time," Itachi replied.

"Bitch! How the hell did you do that?" Kisame suddenly shouted from slight shock. He wiped at the blood that slashed across the lower part of his jaw. Sakura's punches never drew blood from him.

Sakura blinked from her crouched and sweaty position on the ground, "That looks more like a cut than a blunt impact…"

"What did you do Sakura?" Itachi asked allowing his voice to reach her ears. 'The time is coming very soon.'

Sakura looked back at Itachi slightly flabbergasted, "Well m-my punch had too much surface area to it and that was the reason that I wasn't inflicting any severe damage to fishy. Plus he kept on catching my fist and the balled up shape made it harder to yank back my hand so I decreased the surface area by just using the side of my p-palm…" she didn't want to explain it the way she thought it, 'So I had gotten so frustrated that I had just decided to karate chop his head. Turns out it worked!'

"You fluked your way into using a chakra scalpel," Kisame muttered with a weary rub of his bloody face, "That is bull shit."

"Chakra scalpel? That was the chakra scalpel!" Sakura shrieked in joy as she flooded her blue chakra back into her hand. "I've always been trying to imagine a blade made of my fingers…"

"You were starting too narrow," Sasori pointed out with a roll of his eyes before he pulled out a scroll and stored his puppet inside. "You're chakra system was not used to making your chakra sharp with so little leverage. If you try reducing it slowly, you should be able to get your scalpel small and more precise in very little time."

"Was that how you learned to control puppets?" Sakura asked as she gazed at her hands and pondered a theory. "I'll heal you Kisame, sorry about that." Sasori nodded to her question and scowled slightly as the pink haired kunoichi stumbled closer to the sword wielder.

Kisame just grunted as Sakura approached him and held her hand to his face, "All good fights end in something unexpected," he replied and looked away from her hand. He felt the surface wound heal before another sharp pain seared in his cheek. "What the hell are you doing bitch?" Kisame shouted with a small jolt. Sakura slapped her other hand to his other cheek to keep his head still as she healed the fresh and invisible wound. The other three Akatsuki members smirked; the sword wielder hadn't just killed her on the spot.

Sakura bit her lip, "Sorry, I just had to while I had the chance."

"The chance to do what bitch? What the fuck did you do to me?"

Sakura chewed, "Blue chakra makes surface cuts, green chakra cuts internally."

"Great, just great. Can't wait until the next time we spar," Kisame growled as he pulled his head out of her grip and rubbed at his sore cheek. "You did heal the internal thing right?"

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, "Of course I did." She looked down at her hands. Now that they could cut, more blood could spill.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"I don't take forever. If you want forever you should have met me when I was twelve years old and had long hair."

"I think you'd look uglier with long hair."

"The person who has asked for our assistance has gained many enemies and he wishes for us to crush the rebellion that is taking place right under his nose. He wants it to be quick and brutal so that he will never need to expend so much money again."

"No, your eyes have nothing to do with Sasuke-kun."

"I know, but until then…I know this is a selfish thing to ask."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

I started off hating this chapter so much. It felt so blerg. But I liked it more and more as I editted it and put more actual personality in Genma and Sasuke. Those two didn't start off so well at all. Ino is also a little bit better as well.

Poor Naruto... always making promises that are going to be difficult to keep.

Genma and Sasuke or both giant contradictions but they make sense right? I hope this makes sense to all of you. If it doesn't I can always explain it to you : D I have explanations for everything, but I won't bore those that get it.

I like the contrast between how Naruto, Obito and Sasuke each love their teammates in a totally different way. Lolz that was probably not intentional but it works out in the end. Hope you all enjoyed!

Sakura's getting stronger. MWAHAHAHAHAHA.


	11. Mission

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: I'm pleasantly surprised by now many people liked the last chapter. Thank you for everyone's reviews. I'm in the triple digits! You're all the best!

* * *

Chapter 11: Mission

"Sakura…" murmured a voice on the edges of her dream. Sakura groaned and rolled over. She curled up tighter into a ball in response to the voice and attempted to bury her face into her knees.

"Five more minutes please," she whispered as she dug her head into the pillow. She didn't know how it managed to still smell like sandalwood after the six weeks that she had been lying on it. 'Maybe Sasori switches our pillows around every so often because he knows that I like the smell, but that's improbable.' The thoughts probably had to do with the swirling hues of red and brown in her dream, so much the same and yet so totally different than the colors that had haunted her nightmares weeks before. If the pillows really had been changed around, then there was probably some alternative reason going around in the Puppet Master's head.

An annoyed sigh was heard on the edges of her dream again, "I am not your mother Sakura, get up or I'm going to throw you out and what kind of nin are you to sleep so deeply anyways."

"I know you'll protect me Sasori-sama," Sakura murmured again and held in her chuckle when she felt Sasori tense above her. She could almost picture his sneer and his hardened brown eyes. It was much too obvious that she was spending way too much time around the man if she could picture every single one of his facial expressions. Granted there weren't that many to start with considering that this was Sasori, but it was a feat nonetheless. She dug her face further into the pillow and smirked. She liked his scent and apparently he hated it when she called him Sasori-sama, all was good in life… she would use that against him later. 'But first, back to sleep…'

"Just Sasori, Sakura and now I know you are awake so before I chuck you off this bed, get up."

The mattress shifted. 'He's actually gonna do it…' Sakura groaned, stretched out, rolled over and opened her eyes. Red was in her vision and soon enough she realized that it was his hair that she was seeing. Interesting how she had just seen that same hue of red a couple minutes earlier. "Why so early? Every nin needs their sleep…" she mumbled and blew onto his face, "You're too close. Move unless you want me to head butt you…"

Sasori straightened his back and crossed his arms while watching as she pushed herself off the mattress and rubbed at her eyes. He would never get tired of seeing such a strong women acting so normal… and possibly ridiculous. 'God knows that Konan does not.' "It's four in the morning," Sasori stated as though she had actually had the gall to sleep to such a late time. Sakura tried to get off her bed with a scowl, but caught her foot on the twisted sheets and then face planted into the floor.

Any notion of trying to look threatening to the Puppet Master disappeared in a flash. Sakura groaned against as she rubbed her face on the floor before pushing herself up. Sasori had that damn smirk plastered on his face. Sakura suspected her plan wouldn't have worked anyways. None of her pre-shower ideas ever worked. "Too early," she mumbled as she hopped into the washroom while kicking the sheets away from her feet and rubbing at her face. She then promptly closed the door with an audible click. Sasori listened for the second click of the other lock on Deidara's door and then smirked before he sat down at his table. He was pleased that she had remembered despite looking like he had just dragged her out of the pits of hell.

His human puppet that he had started nearly five weeks ago was complete and he was itching to try it out. His fingers twitched slightly as he pulled open the scroll to make sure that all of the seals were in order. He looked at the door to the washroom as the water turned on. "I need to try it out on something that won't destroy it so irrevocably and yet someone who will prove to be a challenge…" he muttered contemplatively still mourning the loss of Hiruko and the Sandiame Kazekage. "That definitely means not against Deidara or Sakura. I am pleased that Itachi has promised a good fight for the mission…"

He still had the bits and pieces of the Sandaime Kazekage stashed up in a scroll somewhere but he didn't feel like he had the need to put the weapon back together quite yet. He also didn't have the time or the will to try. It would have consumed too much energy and he would have been weaponless if he had spent longer on the Sandaime rather than on a new creation. There were also other reasons as well to not wanting to resurrect the Sandaime yet. In all actuality, as powerful as the Sandaime Kazekage was, he wanted to try something else entirely; 'something,' he contemplated 'that could be even better.' He leaned back on his chair with his arms crossed. His gaze was stationed on the wall as his fingers twitched slightly with every single movement that he could hear from the other side. He looked back up at the door again as the shower turned off.

Sasori stood up and took the scroll with his newest creation in it and walked to his closet. Opening it, he pulled out the two Akatsuki cloaks that were inside. Sasori shuddered slightly as the smell of blossoms drifted out of his closet and mixed with his simple smell of wood. He didn't know exactly why he could smell something so trivial; he just knew that it bothered him immensely. However, he did like the combination together, but he would never tell his roommate that simple fact.

The two clicks signaled that Sakura was about to exit the washroom and Sasori chucked the cloak at the general direction. He smirked as he heard a muffled shout of surprise before Sakura's head popped back out from under the mass of fabric. "Thanks a bunches," she muttered with a sarcastic smile on her face, "Glad that fabric likes to attack me."

"Ah," Sasori replied before walking out of the door while securing his own cloak over his shoulders. He stored his scroll on the inside of his cloak where he could reach it quickly and easily.

Sakura continued to smile and followed after him putting her cloak on herself. Outside in the hallway the other three residences of the little house were already waiting for them. "It's true then yeah, that girls take forever to get ready," Deidara grinned from his spot on the floor, leaning against the hallway wall.

Sakura huffed, "I don't take forever. If you want forever you should have met me when I was twelve years old and had long hair." Deidara braced himself and stood up. He rolled his shoulders and the Akatsuki cloak he was wearing lost all of its wrinkles to flow down his form.

"I think you'd look even uglier with long hair," Kisame taunted with a smirk. Sakura stuck her tongue out at him as they began shifting towards the front door.

"So where are we headed off to this dark and gloomy morning?" Sakura asked as she grabbed her hat off one of the hooks and placed it gingerly on the top of her head. She still loved her hat and how it covered the defining features of her hair and her eyes. It was one of the many inanimate objects that made her feel giddy.

"We have more business to take care of. Someone has asked for our assistance and has offered a large sum of money in return for our service," Itachi informed her monotonously.

Sakura would have pegged Itachi as not being a morning person as well… if he didn't act partially monotonous all of the time. "Ah, there's always a large sum of money involved," Sakura smiled with a wrinkle on her forehead as Itachi gave her a look. Sakura beamed. The look wasn't condescending unlike that of another Uchiha that she knew of. It was harsh in the way that all looks that were given by Uchiha's were, but in its unique fashion it was almost gentle and Sakura loved that Itachi cared about her enough to give her that look. 'Although in retrospect,' Sakura thought, 'That's a really weird feeling to have for Sasuke-kun's tormentor.'

"Ah," he muttered, "The man who has requested for our assistance has gained many enemies due to his… less than civil business methods and he wishes for us to crush the rebellion that is taking place right under his nose. He wants it to be quick and brutal so that he will never need to expend so much money again."

"How many people did he manage to piss off?" Sakura asked as the door was pushed open by one of the men that were lined up in front of her. Itachi gently nudged her on the small of her back so that she would move faster. Sakura bit hard on her lip to ignore the 'less than civil' part of Itachi's mission briefing. She didn't care very much for lying cheating men. 'At least this one isn't manipulating a whole country…'

"A thousand or so," Kisame replied with a grin, "Even if they are all pathetic weaklings, it should still be a fun work out. Two hundred men each give or take, of course."

Sakura pursed her lips, "Sounds easy enough," she muttered and then grinned. "It's been a long time since I have had to face multiple enemies at once, the last time I did… I wasn't very useful." Her eyes clouded over slightly at the memories of her first real mission with Team 7, the one that had taken them to what was now called the Naruto Bridge. She had been a child way back when, 'A stupid ignorant kid.' Her fist clenched as she bit hard on her lip and finally drew blood. Along with the memories of Zabuza and Haku, Sakura remembered the first technique they had physically learned from Kakashi and how she had excelled as tree climbing. 'So much for that…'

"I'm sure you will be plenty useful this time around," Sasori said while observing her flittering emotions from the corner of his eye as they walked out of the house and into the cold night air. The sun had had yet to rise from the east and all of the creatures of the night were still singing in the distance.

Sakura nodded and shivered slightly as they headed to the direction of the forest and began their long journey. The moment that the group was in the foliage, the surrounding fauna scattered and the sounds of the night decreased dramatically in volume. "Anything I am now would have been more useful than what I was back then. The best that I did was cry, I just… freaking cried."

"You crying? That must have been one masterpiece to behold," Kisame grinned as he launched off a limp and grabbed another with his arm, "I can't see it." He flipped off the second limp fluidly and landed on the next one.

Sakura threw him a smirk, "Then I'll make sure that you'll never get the chance."

"You'd still look sexy while you're crying, yeah," Deidara quipped and nudged her on the shoulder as he leapt past her. Sakura laughed and bounded right after him, keeping pace.

When the sun rose, the group took a short rest by a small creek. Sakura bathed in the rays of the morning sun, her skin warming up and her heart rate slowing down. The orange and pink of the glow lit up her whole entire face and blended in with the hues of her shoulder length hair. Running with the Akatsuki was still just as thrilling as it had been the first time. There was nothing like her racing heart and her slightly labored breaths as the four legendary men around her conversed openly.

They set off again within two minutes and Deidara continued to badger her about snippets of her past, like how she had lost her previously long hair. She had refused to talk about it for the most part, it was a time in her life that she had wanted to forget and yet never. It had been the first turning point for her, the one that had led her eventually into the apprenticeship with Tsunade and now into the arms of the Akatsuki. It had also reminded her just exactly how pathetic she had been to actually not come up with the solution of slicing off her hair instantly. Itachi had eyed her while she had averted the question, none too smoothly. She hated the fact that he probably knew everything without having to have had a single word said.

The morning came and went and soon, so did the afternoon. They had only taken one more break in between and that was to grab a lunch that Kisame had packed beneath his cloak. The warrior had complained ever so slightly about the take out, but food was food and soon enough he couldn't open his mouth without spewing out chewed contents. Sakura had laughed and had followed along with more talk about the mission and the man behind the pay that they would be receiving. 'He sounds just as brilliant as Shikamaru,' Sakura mused as she munched through her decidedly dry noodles. He was a known enemy to Konoha. She had seen his name in their Bingo books several times so she didn't have that many issues with the man's lying and deceiving ways. Everyone knew that he would probably rob them dry; they had just been stupid enough to think they could defy the odds anyway. 'The man probably puts on a really good show to trick a thousand people so easily…'

By the time they had reached their destination the cold, biting air was nipping at their jaws again and Sakura shivered from the sensation. They had travelled up north and out of the Fire Country, that she knew for sure, but she didn't know exactly where they now were. "Yeah, we're here," Deidara grinned as he settled on a limb and kneeled down with one palm resting against the tree trunk beside him. He attached his scope to his eye and moved his head back and forth to examine everything in the distance.

"Looks like our man kept his word and had them all gathered for the picking," Kisame grinned and fingered the sword that was attached to his back. He had ended up on the ground beside a tree that was adjacent to the one that Deidara was sitting on.

Sakura stared down at the valley before her and noticed how there were more than a thousand people, civilian and shinobi, all gathered up in groups surrounding bright fires. Very few were conversing among themselves in the dead of night, most were sleeping, but when the noise reached the ears of the five that were stationed in the shadows of the trees it sounded like static and background noise. They were still far enough away from the general group to not at all be sensed. "We have to kill all of them?" Sakura asked as she scanned the campsites just as Deidara was still doing.

"Indeed," Sasori answered.

Itachi held his hands in front of the other four as they began to ready themselves for a fight. "We will rest until the morning. Only at that time well we make an attack. Our client wanted us to exert such brutality that another rebellion such as this one could not appear again. If we were to attack them in the dead of night then that would only say to others that we are weak. However, if we attack while they are at their most aware and subsequently crush them, then we have successfully completed our mission."

"Hm, I hate waiting," Kisame grumbled as his hand released the hilt of the Samehada and his arms crossed in front of his chest. He leaned his weight against the tree beside him and snorted.

Deidara frowned, "And I've already plotted the optimal locations to release my creations too." He reached up to detach his scope and place it back into one of the pockets in the cloak.

"Why did we leave early Itachi? I am an impatient man and this is just a waste of time," Sasori grumbled his fingers releasing the scroll inside his cloak. Itachi just turned his head to give Sasori a look before the both of them backed down and turned back towards the valley. Sasori scoffed and Deidara snorted.

Deidara seemed to find something funny with Sasori's comment as well, "You have all the time in the world to wait Sasori no danna," Sasori threw him a glare as Sakura blinked in confusion, "But if this is your way of saying beauty is indeed fleeting than bravo, yeah."

Sakura looked between Deidara and Sasori as Sasori continued to glare and scowl at the blond. Everyone sat down on his respective branch; Kisame changing his location quickly. Sakura sat down tentatively as well. Itachi had sat down closest to her. "Do not mind those two's bickering," Itachi stated as he leaned on the trunk of the tree and closed his eyes. His hands were folded in front of him and his legs were crossed.

"Ah," Sakura replied and looked at Itachi from the corner of her eyes. She swung her legs as her eyes scanned the man's cheekbones before running up to his closed eyelids.

His eyes were still closed when he spoke next, "Thank you for helping with my eyes Sakura-san."

Sakura blinked in confusion as her gaze immediately dropped away from the Uchiha's face. "Just Sakura, Itachi. I think that we've made it far enough for that," Sakura smiled and watched her cloak rustle with the movement.

"Ah…"

"And don't worry about it. It's the least I can do for you since you've all taken me in," she closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side so that it was resting against the hard wood, "Cooking dinner and healing your eyes are just the ways that I like showing you my all appreciation, that I am happy here and especially since you've been teaching me genjutsu."

Itachi looked up at her with onyx eyes, "You've already paid your genjutsu training debt by helping me discover that one jutsu. Also the healing of the sharingan is a much more personal rather than group matter." He scrutinized the individual strands of her hair flying in the breeze before he closed his eyes again.

Sakura smiled, her eyes still closed and her legs still swinging, "You told me you were going to use me for testing and after that night you stopped, but still, you have continued to teach me. For all of that I am simply returning the favor. I don't want to take without being able to give back any more. I have the ability to give back now, so I will."

Itachi opened one eye to regard her calmly, "So it had nothing to do with my little brother?"

Sakura tensed and her eyes opened wide. She had totally forgotten about Sasuke. She bit her lip and turned her head so that she could see Itachi. He continued to simply gaze at her without any call of judgment. Her eyes softened again and she shook her head. "No, your eyes have nothing to do with Sasuke-kun."

A choke was heard from behind her, interrupting the background banter, and then a laugh. She wasn't sure whom of the other three had made the sounds, but that was not what her attention was focused on. Her gaze had fully turned to the man as he continued to observe her. The cold wind whistled and bit gently into her skin. "Sakura… I'll tell you someday, about my brother and about myself," her eyes widened at his calm and platonic declaration, "You will just have to wait a little bit longer."

Sakura smiled softly again, "You don't have to tell me Itachi. From what I've seen of you so far, I already know that there is more to the story than just you going on a murdering spree. I don't need to know the details."

Itachi shook his head, "You deserve to know eventually. It is because of my actions that you have suffered greatly because of my little brother, my foolish little brother."

Sakura stared at him for a long time. His face remained impassive, disconnected and unattached. "Okay." Silence ensued within the group as the night gave once again, away to the day. They had all rested but none of them had slept, the only person that Sakura felt comfortable enough around to fall asleep was still only Sasori and even that had been a forced arrangement. Sakura watched as the sun began to rise, bathing her in its warm light and the camp that was in the valley below started to stir. The people were coming out of their tents; packing away their sleeping gear and others began to cook.

They still did not move.

When noon arrived and three restless shinobi were fidgeting in their spots, Itachi finally shifted in his position and stood up. Kisame followed after him as they stared down at the valley at the mass of rebels. Everyone was energized, the way that Itachi had wanted it. "Yeah… it's time to begin," Deidara grinned as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a lump of clay. Suddenly a giant clay bird appeared. "I'll see you later Sakura, don't ruin your pretty face!" Deidara jumped on it and soared over the camp. Sakura waved to the man and laughed before adjusting her hat.

Itachi signaled for the rest to move out and within seconds' explosions rocketed through out the valley. Screams quickly followed. Sakura ran down the hill and into the mass; she grinned as a bunch of the nin and civilians surrounded her. They were all yelling and spitting in disgust as they glared at her relatively short figure. Sakura just stood there while pulling up the sleeves of her cloak, a smirk adorning her face. Soon enough they tried to attack.

'Tried' being the keyword as Sakura raised her fist into the air and brought it down to the ground. A thrill shot through her as her knuckles met with the solid earth and the ground began to shake. A rift opened up, swallowing the vast majority of those that were in front of her. Those that remained froze for a second and in that time Sakura barreled through them leaving behind a mound of people with deformed chests and collapsed skulls. She leapt through the air and landed in the middle of another group of fighters crouched, with one hand curled into a fist, the other on the ground and one leg stretched out.

Sakura grinned as she swung around and concentrated blue chakra into two of her fingers. Shaping the chakra quickly, she sliced through the jugular of another nin that had tried to pin her with his enormous girth. He collapsed with a loud bang as Sakura flipped over his body and the blood pooling all around his head like a halo. She smirked as she brought her foot down to the ground before the other fighters and opened up another crevice, "Shannaro!"

Sakura scanned the skies and noticed that Deidara was still circling the valley and dropping his explosives on the people below him. The light show that he was producing was spectacular and from the ground she could already see the pile up of dead bodies that the man was creating. She could practically hear his joyous laugh as he continued to soar and drop his fleeting, beautiful creations.

Sakura flipped backwards and landed behind a man that had tried to gut her from behind. She ripped her glowing green fingers into his lower back and severed his spine before stepping on his chest and crushing all of his ribs. His eyes widened before they died when he caught a look into her glowing green eyes. Sakura smirked and tilted her hat. Looking around again she noticed the second most obvious fighter, Sasori. He seemed to be a little bit more pleased than usual but other than that she simply stared at his perfect puppet handling skills. His fingers barely moved as he maneuvered his newest creation through the ranks and destroyed everything in his path. Apparently the Genkai Kekkai of the human that he had obtained was so that the puppet could manipulate any source of chakra into small bullets and launch them at the enemy.

Sakura threw her elbow back and nailed a woman in the stomach, making her fly back a fair distance before impacting back down with the ground. Sakura then dived forward and flipped on her hands to kick to on coming men before she used her momentum to slam her feet into the ground and create two crevices that stopped shinobi coming both at her left and at her right. Sakura stayed crouched low to the ground as more rebels gathered up in a broken circle around her. Sakura continued to scan past them and noticed Itachi standing in the middle of a bunch of withering and screaming nin. Itachi had a smirk on his lips as he continued to trap any one else that was foolish enough to look into his eyes. Otherwise, Sakura couldn't necessary say that he was moving except for the fact that there were men falling around him not due to any kind of genjutsu. Her eyes widened, 'He's unbearably quick…'

The crowd around her got a little bit thicker despite the giant crevices and Sakura stood up. She charged chakra to both of her index and middle fingers and began to dance through the ring while swing her arms around in fluid arcs. Blood splattered to the ground but none of the red substance even touched her cloak. She took in a deep breath when she had passed by the vast majority of those that had surrounded her before looking up again. Sakura found the last of the team tearing his enemies apart with his sword. It was odd because it didn't even seem like the sword had grazed its targets but within moment the people had fallen in combat and considering all of the blood that splattered on the ground, they wouldn't be getting back up again.

Sakura turned her full attention back to her own opponents with a raised eyebrow, those that dared to come near her still, and she grinned at them. There were very few that wanted to get ripped to shreds by her hands, 'But I guess you could have it a little bit worse,' Sakura contemplated as she imagined being on the wrong end of Deidara's creations. She blinked through when she noticed that the men in front of her were only staring with mouths agape. She frowned as she recognized the types of stares and she gasped as she reached up to her head, her beautiful hat had flown away in the wind.

"It's a little girl with pink hair," she heard one of the nin whisper. His voice was condescending. She wanted to _rip_ his throat out, slicing it would have been too merciful.

"All of those attacks must have been an illusion," another one dared to remark.

Sakura vein popped out on her head as she unleashed another attack. Before she swiftly killed all of those in front of her she smiled as one of them had the sense to remark, "Don't say that you fool, one of the three Sannin was a woman and she could destroy you with a fucking finger."

Five minutes later and only five living people were left standing on the field. Sakura frowned as she searched through the dead bodies for her hat. Smiling she pushed over one of the corpses and wrangled her hat out of the mess. Although it was a little bit dirty and slightly crushed, she was glad that there was no blood on it. She gingerly placed it on her head and grinned.

Sakura walked back to the forest border where she met up with Sasori, Deidara, and Kisame. "Where'd Itachi go?" Sakura asked as she dusted off her hands. She stared at her hands and sighed. She would need to go buy new battle gloves soon. She healed her bleeding knuckles while discarding her ruined pair.

"He went to collect the loot, yeah," Deidara replied his voice still pumped with enthusiasm. Sakura nodded with a giggle and smiled at the men who surrounded her. Sasori was quickly rolling up his scroll with all the seals back in place, his smirk looking delighted and not a touch of blood on him. Kisame was strapping the Samehada back onto his back and the weapon was almost humming with power. Kisame looked just as pleased.

"Took down a whole shit load of them," Kisame grinned, "Some of them could even resist, those ones were kind of entertaining."

Sakura frowned, "All of mine were no fun."

"That's because you're short bitch, no one likes to fight a shorty." Sakura growled at the immensely tall warrior as he chuckled.

Itachi returned within ten minutes time with a suitcase filled with what Sakura believed to be the cash the client had guaranteed them. "We shall go now," Itachi muttered, a hint of a smile on his face, as they raced back through the forest.

Sakura continued to grin as the adrenaline coursed through her veins and her heart beat loud enough to drown out all of the other sounds that came to her ears. Her feet pounded against the wooden branches and she breathed out a sigh of relief. She had never felt this way after a battle before. However, she frowned when she noticed that her hands were trembling.

_Mission_

"Cheers to the bitch's first ever, real fight," Kisame grinned and held his drink into the air. There were multiple clinks as the drink came in contact with four other ones. Kisame drowned the liquid and slammed the empty glass onto the table before he made a grab for another bottle of beer. He didn't even go through the process of pouring the beverage anymore.

"Yeah, you did excellent. It was amazing watching from the air. It was almost like watching paper tearing in two," Deidara cheered as he took a swing of his drink and banged it back onto the table. Sakura thought that he could easily be passed off as being drunk. "A strong, fighting woman is a sexy woman. Oh, don't tell Konan I said that, she'll kill me."

'Konan?' Sakura thought as she sipped at her own drink before placing it down gently, 'Another Akatsuki member I guess…'

Itachi took a sip of his beverage calmly, "You didn't use any of the genjutsu that I taught you."

Sakura looked up at him, "Well I was thinking about how my other strengths would have been better for a multi enemy fight and so I used that to my advantage. Tearing a hole in the ground doesn't only allow for those in the way at the time to get beaten off, but it also allows for others who are stupid enough to take a misstep to perish as well." Her voice was unsteady as she reasoned out why she hadn't chosen to use her new techniques on the enemy; something so passive had truly just gone right over her head. Her hands started trembling again and she gripped tightly onto her mug.

Itachi nodded, "I'm glad you did not use the genjutsu I taught you," Sakura blinked in confusion, "For six weeks of purely using those techniques it is incredible that genjutsu is not the only fighting style that comes into your mind now. You use everything you've ever learned for your benefit instead of just your strongest technique."

Sakura beamed. "Thank you Itachi, but I haven't only been using genjutsu. During the spars I like to use my fists and the chakra scalpels," she grinned and took a small sip of her drink as well, "I love the chakra scalpels." Her grip got tighter on the mug.

"Genjutsu is still what you use most now, even in your spars," Itachi replied and glanced as her white knuckles before swiftly looking away.

"Yeah, Sasori no danna did well!" Deidara bellowed as he took another big gulp and grabbed Sasori around the neck and wrestled with him slightly in his drunken daze, "You might have crap taste in art, but bringing Sakura here was cool. Very cool."

"Tch, of course I did well," Sasori mutter as he shoved Deidara's arm off of his shoulders and Deidara off of his chair. Sakura laughed as Deidara's head popped back up from under the table and he tried to get back into his seat. Deidara winked at her and Sakura giggled even more. "Good job Sakura…"

Sakura smiled softly at the man who gave her everything that she had now, "No. I should be thanking you Sasori, thank you for everything."

"If my little brother, the Kyuubi and the copy-nin are truly foolish enough to have thought any less of you than we do now, then when it comes time for us to face them it will be much too easy."

"Face them?" asked Sakura as she stopped midway through trying to take another sip. 'Mission idiot! You're here because of a mission!' Her eyes widened slightly and she suppressed the urge to cough. Her eyes watered slightly as she forcibly scanned through her thought processes for the day, everything that she had done was for the _mission_.

"We will have to face your old friends eventually idiot," Kisame smirked and rested his chin on his hand as he gazed at her. He took another swing from his bottle.

Her mind buzzed and clicked before she decided to speak with what was hopefully a calm voice. "I know, but until then… and I know that this is a selfish and ridiculous thing to ask for but... until then, the time where we face my old team… can we not face anyone in Konoha? I mean they might not be the greatest people on the face of the planet," Sakura rolled her eyes at her own statement and clamped down on the inside of her cheek, "But I just... just want to shove this all in their faces all at once." Sakura considered all of her _wrong_ thoughts to be a weakness, or a cautionary request for the purpose of her mission, she didn't know anymore. She didn't even know which thoughts were the wrong ones.

Itachi gave her a look before setting down his glass carefully, "You are asking for something that is not understandable Sakura, considering that these people are the people that have left you behind."

Sakura swallowed slightly, "I know that I'm asking for a little bit much and that I'm being absurd. But please, can we just… try? I need… I just need the time…" She hated the way she sounded as she nearly pleaded with these people. The confusion was wasting away at her along with the liquor and she didn't _know_ anymore. She decided that she truly didn't want any of her old friends getting hurt, no matter what they had done to her. 'I don't…'

Silence dropped in the room as Sakura twitched and fidgeted, "I can not promise you that all of Akatsuki will honor what you want Sakura and what I am about to say, since it is farfetched and ridiculous that you still care for these people," Sakura was scared for the first time since she had arrived that someone was seeing through all of her façade, "But for this division I can at least try to promise you this. Unless they are the ones to engage us first, we will not attack anyone from the leaf." If Itachi knew, if he really knew why she was here… half the reason why she was here now then he was very good at hiding it.

A hum of agreement came from the other three although Kisame seemed a little bit more adverse to the idea than the others were. Sakura smiled at Itachi, "Thank you, that is all I want." She sighed out in relief, 'That was too easy, way too easy. Thank god…'

Deidara scoffed, "Yeah, that deal for having you on the team… it's worth it," Deidara grinned, "I guess." Kisame and Sasori chuckled. Sakura smiled and stuck her tongue out at him as her thoughts were banished from her mind. Sakura grinned and nodded. She would deal with her turmoil and mixed up feelings when the time came to do so.

That night when she headed back to the bedroom where Sasori had already gone, she peaked into the door in her haze and laughed inwardly at the vision she was seeing. Sasori was lying down waiting with a smirk on his face and his fingers still moving as though he was controlling a puppet, but he was waiting just for her. As she crawled into her side of the bed she thought that getting drunk really did weird things to peoples minds.

_Mission_

"K-Kiba-kun? W-where are you going? Konoha is that way."

"Just wait Hinata, I'll be right back," Kiba replied as he followed Akamaru quickly through the trees. He listened as two sets of feet followed behind him and he wondered if it was a good thing that he was getting back up for whatever he smelled. Akamaru dove through the last of the trees and down onto the ground where he stopped, circled around and whined. Kiba landed beside him and gently petted him on his muzzle as he stared down into the biggest wreckage that he had seen in a while.

Shino landed on a limp behind the pair and jumped down to the ground to get a better view. He tilted his sunglasses up; they reflected in the evening light. He stood beside Kiba to gaze down into the valley, "What exactly does Akamaru smell in all of that?"

Hinata had been holding onto Shino's hand as he had dragged her along with him in order to keep up to Kiba. She peaked out into the valley from behind Shino's back, her eyes wide. "Sakura… Akamaru smells Sakura…" Kiba muttered perplexed. He wrinkled his nose as all of the scents of blood began blending together and he couldn't even distinguish Sakura's scent anymore.

"W-What would S-Sakura-chan be doing here?" Hinata stuttered as she scanned the multiple rifts that had opened in the valley, "W-wasn't she on a mission?"

Shino pushed up his sunglasses as he observed the dead bodies, "I don't know, but something isn't right," he muttered as he looked at what seemed to be sites of explosive impact.

"W-what could have caused those?" Hinata murmured her eyes still trained on the tears in the earth.

"I don't know," Kiba replied smelling clay and smoke, "But there was others here as well, more people who survived.

"O-others?"

"Yah."

"Were they with Sakura?"

"I don't know… her scent and those of the others don't continue past this valley."

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"I thought I asked you people not to get in the way of any Konoha nin."

"I think she's growing on me."

"You know how Kakuzu and Hidan said that they were going to be dropping by Fire Country for one of their missions and then we lost contact with them soon after and how neither have yet to show up?"

"Hidan and Kakuzu killed a very important Konoha nin."

"Can you live with that Sakura? With the fact that you are part of the organization who killed this man, that tore apart this family that was to be, that you are going to be considered a murderer, a Konoha nin killer."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

First draft of this chapter... Sasori=Cheesy person XD. So glad I changed that... honestly...

It was awkward writing the Sakura request portion. I have to admit that was one of those necessary evils that come into the writing of all fanfiction.

Oh... Kiba, Shino and Hinata have hit upon something. I hope you all enjoyed!


	12. Hair

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: Thank you to those who reviewed!

* * *

Chapter 12: Hair

Sakura concentrated her healing chakra into her palms as she worked through the large battle scar that marred Kisame's chest. Once in a while a burst of chakra would appear around two of her fingers as she made swift slices to aid her in better putting the marred skin back together. Kisame grinned at her while she worked, not minding or even feeling the pain that he should have had. He was reclined back on the couch with his arms crossed behind his head and a grin plastered on his face. The medic looked up and scowled at him as she mended together same of his muscle. 'I was being too kind giving him those pain killers,' Sakura thought as she looked back down at her work. Half of the large gash was already mended and appeared as though it had never been there in the first place. Sakura bit her tongue as she concentrated just a drop more of chakra into her fingers and sealed off another blood vessel before mending the tissue and skin around and above it. "I thought I asked you people not to get in the way of any Konoha nin," she muttered darkly to the sword wielder as she pulled the next section of his tissue back together with another burst of chakra. She would be done the whole scar in another five minutes or less.

"And Itachi told you that we wouldn't attack them first, bitch" Kisame smirked and leaned back in the sofa as the girl continued to mend his chest back together. He chuckled as she hissed at him.

Itachi allowed a small frown to tug at his lips as he looked up at the working medic. His words were calm and slow as he spoke to her, "That is what I did say. It was not an absolute promise and such a thing shall never be. But we were not actively engaging them. However, it is tougher to avoid unpleasantries with Konoha than you may wish to believe."

"Yes, I know," Sakura sighed as she let off of that particular topic and moved her hands further down Kisame's chest, "Especially since they are still specifically hunting you down," Sakura muttered as she pulled the last piece of skin together and collapsed on the couch next to Kisame. Sweat was running down her temples as she breathed a sigh of relief and flexed her fingers experimentally. They were sore but otherwise unaffected by the continuous stream of chakra, "But that is still no excuse to somehow getting the bigger part of your chest ripped open." She was glaring at Kisame again, knowing that she could never lecture Itachi because the man would never have been so brash in the first place.

"Worried about me now? That sure is sinking pretty low on the scale there, bitch," Kisame retorted with the smirk still plastered on his face as he grabbed his ruined shirt from the floor where Sakura had thrown it upon his arrival into the living area and mopped up as much of the blood on his chest as possible.

Sakura looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, "I don't care about you at all guppy. It's just that I would hate to see Itachi sad when you're gone, because honestly, I know that he wasn't the one to deal the first blow." She couldn't imagine Itachi sad, ever, but her mouth running capabilities had caught up with her and it was just too much fun to banter with the tall warrior.

"I doubt I would be sad when he's gone," Itachi replied bluntly but with a smirk tugging absentmindedly on his lips. It was confirmed.

"Oi, I'm insulted," Kisame replied as he glared at his shirt and threw it aside. There was still blood smeared on his chest, just much less than there had been before. He looked up at Itachi and grinned as the Uchiha shook his head before turning back to the book in his hands.

"So who did you manage to kill?" Sakura asked as she pushed herself up off the couch to grab the bloody shirt and fling it into a nearby basket that was left in the living area for disasters such as this. She hid her teeth nibbling on her lower lip as she dropped the shirt but when she had turned back around the teeth had already released the soft, abused tissue. She settled herself back on the couch again with a bounce and Kisame grunted in protest. The pain relief medication was wearing away now that Sakura's chakra wasn't constantly feeding his system and he could feel the slight pull at his newly mended skin.

Itachi replied swiftly not taking his eyes off the book, "No one you need to worry about Sakura, unless you have friends that are in Anbu."

"Nope, none there. All is good then I guess…" Sakura said with a shrug and a slight breath of relief. 'Why would Shishou send out people to attack the Akatsuki when she knows that I'm with them?' Sakura thought as her nose scrunched in contemplation over the Hokage's actions, 'Probably to take the attention off of me, maybe?'

"So bitch, when are you starting dinner?" Kisame grinned as he stood up and stretched his abdomen. The skin still pulled but Kisame wasn't the type to sit around just allowing the soreness to fade. It would fade much quicker with fewer repercussions if he were to train. Sakura kicked him in the back of the knees so that he would topple back down onto the couch. Kisame turned his eyes at her and growled, his eyes flashing.

"Tch, I'll start dinner soon but unless you want all of your organs to fall out of your chest again, I suggest that you don't do anything funny to your chest which includes training you idiot," she glared at him fully aware of his intentions. It never got through to his head and was an often repeated phrase, "Though I know you really just probably want to pound it like the barbarian man you are, ugga ugga," Sakura scolded with a roll of her eyes and an amused quirk to her lips.

"And while I do that, you can stare at the perfection that is…"

"My handiwork?"

"You two are childish."

Sakura pouted as she looked up at the unmoving Uchiha; it was as though he had never spoken. A page turned. She resisted the urge to stick out her tongue; she had been here much too long. She turned back to the one she didn't outwardly express that she respected, "What in god's name got you so distracted anyways that you managed to let someone cut through your chest?"

"Hm, Itachi told me not to pick a fight, so I stopped. Instead though the Anbu scum's fucking partner then tried to attack me from behind. I noticed in time, of course, but he wielded a weapon much longer than average and got a cheap shot in. That was the last hit he'd ever get," Kisame grunted with a shrug and gave a hard glare at Itachi, "The people that I listen to…"

"I do not very much prefer direct confrontation when it can be avoided, but either way, both men are dead and you do not have to worry about the situation anymore," Itachi stated looking up momentarily from his book giving Kisame an impassive glance, "However, you were the one that was foolish enough to actually let him land a hit."

"The Anbu of Konoha are pretty good, I'm pretty sure guppy didn't LET the guy land a hit," Sakura murmured with a snicker.

Kisame and Itachi both turned their eyes to her before turning their gazes back to each other, "Oi, are you saying that that pathetic excuse for a shinobi would have actually been able to injure me any other way? Whose side are you on?" Kisame smirked and crossed his arms.

Sakura stiffened slightly as she snarled and her nostrils flared, "Really you're playing sides now? I'm simply stating that you shouldn't be so confident in your abilities and so degrading of others. If you had met me in battle and done that, you'd be a pile of mush on the floor."

Kisame's eyes narrowed, "I can still beat you to a bloody pulp."

"Yah, that's because you don't underestimate me."

"I could still beat you down."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Yah, I think it is."

Sakura slammed her fist into her palm, "Bring it on tough guy."

"Both of you stop acting like children…" Itachi stated with a roll of his eyes as he flipped the page of his book once again. Both of the other occupants of the room turned their eyes to him and he rolled his own again when he saw the fake teary eyes of Haruno Sakura. "Sakura were you not the one who said that he should not be sparing with his recently acquired injury?"

She flushed a rosy pink as Kisame smirked at her, "I'm not a child, he's a child hmph," she stated and crossed her arms and turned her head away. 'Always address the competition you haven't yet lost.' "Not acknowledging me when I just saved his sorry life." Her fake tears had disappeared to be replaced by a smirk.

"You think you're so high and mighty," Kisame taunted, "But in the end you're just a little girl who always has to cry. Just as ugly as I originally thought you would look too."

Sakura stuck her tongue out at the sword wielder and stood up, "Fake tears aren't the same, I'm freaking gorgeous when I cry," that was an out right lie, but she didn't take his degrading comments seriously anymore, and even her form of conversing had changed around these people. They didn't care anymore; it was now akin to comfortable talking about the silliest things with these people. People that she hadn't thought could even normally converse above the organizing of plots for destroying nations. Three months does a lot on someone's sanity. "I'm gonna go cook dinner now. Fish tonight?"

"Ah, you're the best…"

"Oh, now who changes their mind at the snap of a finger," Sakura replied as she kicked him on the foot and walked out of the living area. She grabbed the bloody basket on the way out but before long she poked her head back in, "Shower or no food!"

Kisame blinked as the pink mop of hair disappeared again and turned to Itachi, "I think she's growing on me."

"You think?"

Kisame nodded and laughed, stretching out on the couch and rubbing his chest. It was smooth and flawless as though a sword hadn't just ripped through it less than an hour ago. There was only the caked blood that showed any sign of there ever being a battle. "When are you going to confront her?"

"Soon, when we know for sure."

Kisame looked up at Itachi with a raised eyebrow, "Oi, I'm not the smart one out of the two of us and I'm already pretty sure what she's going to choose. Why are you still hesitating? The results might suck, though I doubt it, but its better to do it now rather than later just incase we're all wrong and it becomes more of a mess than it should be."

"No Kisame, I need one more thing to happen before hand."

Kisame raised an eyebrow at the older Uchiha. "Fine wait for your random event," Kisame muttered and closed his eyes as he continued to stretch out on the couch, "I'll just enjoy the bitches company for as long as she's around."

"It won't be as random as you presume, Kisame."

The front door suddenly slammed open and Kisame registered the throwing and landing of a pair of shoes before Deidara appeared at the living area door, "I made it for dinner yeah?"

"She just started cooking," Itachi replied and looked up to give Deidara an acknowledging nod.

"Good yeah, good," Deidara grinned and shrugged off his cloak sauntering to his room.

Sasori was much more calm as he appeared at the living area door, "Good evening Kisame, Itachi," he muttered as Kisame passed by him. His cloak had already been removed and his hat placed safely away. Sasori looked at the couch, "What happened here? Did you try to sacrifice some sort of animal?"

"The blood came from the idiot," Sakura replied as her head popped into the living area again. A smile was on her face as she searched for Deidara before deducting his location. She looked back at the puppet master, "Good evening Sasori, and welcome back. How was your three day mission?"

"It was successful," Sasori replied quickly and graced her with a twitch of his lips. Sakura nodded and smiled back as she turned to Kisame with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.

"We don't have any big fish left, so is a bunch of small ones okay?"

"Fine, whatever, I just want food." Sakura frowned at the man and rolled her eyes.

"Didn't I also say you needed a shower?"

"I'll get to it, just go cook dinner."

Sakura's eye twitched as she stomped back down the hall and clenched her fists as she muttered under her breath in a mocking deep voice, "Fine, whatever woman. I just want food uhuhuhhhh I am man watch me roar. I'm going to put his foot up his butt the next time we…" Kisame had followed her out of the living area and there was a shriek before a door slam before more spluttering came out of a female's mouth. "I'm never going to cook for you again you bastard! Starve for all I care!"

"Sakura, yeah. It's not nice to let me starve as well, and it is even more unkind to allow us to cook or order that awful take out," Deidara's voice could be heard echoing down the hall.

"Fine, I'll never make fish again," Sakura mumbled.

"And she calls herself not childish," Itachi stated with a shake of his head and a frown gracing his lips, "So what did you manage to find out Sasori?"

Sasori calmly looked over at Itachi before sitting down on the sofa. Itachi's eyebrow rose softly as Sasori's patience, something that didn't appear all too often. Deidara came back into the room and took a spot right beside Itachi. He had a grin on his face as he leant back. "You know how Kakuzu and Hidan said that they were going to be dropping by Fire Country for one of their missions and then we lost contact with them soon after. Now neither has yet to show up?"

Itachi nodded, "Yes."

Sasori nodded before looking out into the hallway, "This may be better discussed in front of Sakura. This is what you have been looking for Itachi in your undue and petulant patience; I suggest that you take full advantage of this information and what it forebodes. I suspect you already know what I am about to say?"

Itachi's eyes flashed as he too looked at the door of the living area, "I have had my suspicions and know a little of the details. I just had not yet confirmed it to be true; one half of the story was much too unlikely for me. But little comes from underestimating the power of vengeance. However, this kind of discussion over dinner is never very pleasant."

Kisame appeared back at the door jam with a towel on his shoulders and a grin on his face. "What kind of a discussion isn't good over dinner?"

"Come, I shall inform you of my seemingly random event."

Kisame's eyebrow rose, "Hm, lucky."

"Not so." Itachi muttered and waved for Kisame to sit down. His book was placed before him on the counter.

Itachi proceeded to inform Kisame of what Sasori had gathered, the puppet master putting a little of his own input, before the warrior grunted, "Well if it stops you four from eating my fish, I'm all for the dinner talk."

"Are you sure you know what you are doing Sasori no danna?" Deidara questioned as he leaned back on his crossed arms and looked at the ceiling. He had caught Sakura doing it many times and wondered what her fascination of plaster entailed. He looked back up when he felt the cool gaze of his partner on his chin and passed his eyes over the rest of his division. "This is gonna be one hell of a night. Things will be changing."

"I thought you were the one who believed that change was good," Sasori replied with a derisive snort.

Itachi stood up abruptly to end the impeding debate that he knew would last much longer than sanely tolerable and walked out of the living area with casual strides. Kisame stood up and followed his partner out of the room and down the hall toward the kitchen, the towel still sitting on his shoulders and his skin slightly glistening. Both of them were tired of the two's bickering.

Sasori and Deidara eyed each other and fought with no words being exchanged. Blue eyes glinted against brown as Sasori's frown deepened and Deidara's grin widened.

Sakura's voice soon called down the hall for Sasori and Deidara to get into the dining room and eat dinner. They appeared silently. Itachi was calmly observing Sakura as she ran back and forth from the kitchen and the dining table. "Done!" she cheered as she pulled out Sasori's desk chair. She looked up at the two standing shinobi and smiled kindly at them, "Sit down, it's dinner time!"

"Yeah," Deidara grinned as he pulled out his own chair and started to dig into his bowl of rice that Kisame had already filled.

Dinner was unusually silent as Sakura shoveled more rice into her mouth. Usually Kisame would be making some sort of boisterous comment about the food or Deidara would do some casual flirting or Itachi would make his calm and collected interjections, but this evening, there was just nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sakura entertained the idea of tumbleweeds floating around the dinning table before deeming the fact that she was just imagining the silence.

As she chewed through a chunk of fish, Sakura looked up at the people around her and noticed how they were all exchanging looks with each other but not one of them dared to make eye contact with her. Sakura placed the rice that was on her chopsticks back into her bowl and placed her bowl onto the dinning table. Her chopsticks were placed on top of the bowl with a very audible chink. "Can someone tell me what's going on?" Her voice was unsure and timid as she looked around at all of the members, this awkwardness had never before happened, not even during her first few days with them.

Four pairs of eyes turned to hers simultaneously as she stared them down with her green eyes, "Yeah, do you remember about four days ago before we left, we told you we would be having visitors?" Deidara remarked first easing into the conversation that was about to take place. His voice calmed her slightly, the smooth baritone of a man who knew how to pacify a girl.

Sakura nodded reluctantly recalling the memory and all of the warnings about the 'cheap bastard' and the man who followed some blood entrenching religion. She hadn't committed the duo to memory; the thought of them was already horrifying enough to her and the possibility of meeting these men scared her more than her original mission ever had, "Well did anyone come while we were gone?" Sasori questioned with an impatient click of his tongue.

Sakura shook her head and ran her eyes over the four men in front of her again. Even Kisame had placed his bowl back onto the table in preparation for the topic; Sakura knew it was serious at that very moment and snapped her eyes up to the warrior's silver ones. "What does that have to do with anything? You guys are being vague and…"

"It seems like our visitors won't be coming after all," Kisame stated and crossed his arms.

"And this is important how? It never seems like you guys abide to premade plans, they might have gotten distracted."

"Sakura, the visitors that we were to have visit are… used to be part of the Akatsuki," Itachi stated playing with had words well as his expressionless face feel on hers.

"Used to?" Sakura asked as she folded her hands in her lap and pulled at all of her fingers. They were still slightly sore but she couldn't help but wring her hands.

"Indeed, it seems as though one has been rendered useless and the other is deceased."

"Someone managed to kill a member of the Akatsuki?" Sakura asked slightly startled as her eyes flashed between the four in front of her. There were a couple grunts of confirmation.

Deidara laughed as he leaned forward, resting his elbow on the table and his cheek on the back of his fingers while staring at her, "Yeah, and that person was none other than the copy-nin, Hatake Kakashi."

Sakura blinked as shock registered into her system and her heart started to beat quicker, thumping against her ribs, "Kakashi-sensei?" All her muscles had tensed up at the mention of the silver haired man she had held in such high regard for much of her life.

"Ah," Itachi replied, "The other was rendered useless by one of your chuunin. Pitiful, really…"

"W-what happened? Why did Kakashi-sensei have to kill one of the Akatsuki? I mean he doesn't exactly go searching for those kind of battles, right?" Sakura stuttered as her blood pressure rose and her eyes started to flicker between the four members of the Akatsuki in front of her.

Suddenly she felt as though she was in mortal danger, something that she had had yet to feel in her three months that she had been with them. She wrung her hands harder as her toes dug into the ground.

"Yeah, well the team that Hatake was with was the reason why he ended up having to kill Kakuzu. Several other shinobi helped, of course, yeah, Kakuzu can't be killed alone. One of those people who was involved was the blond loud mouth that fought me long ago," Deidara stated his cheek still resting on his fingers his gaze still trained on her.

"N-Naruto?" Sakura managed to mutter in between her hazy mind and her quickened breaths. She could now hear the blood rushing in her ears as her gaze stay trained on Deidara's blue eyes. "When did this happen? When were they killed?"

"About two days ago," Sasori stated with his eyes closed.

"It might put into perspective why Kisame was attacked today," Itachi noted softly.

"W-Why did it happen? Why did Kakashi and Naruto and… and who ever they were with, attack your allies?" Sakura asked as she shifted in her seat and peeked at Kisame's flawless chest. She noticed that the men were silent for a longer period of time as Deidara's gaze finally drifted off of her and towards the puppet master. Sakura's eyes widened when Sasori's brown eyes were suddenly trained on her features.

Sasori sighed with a half roll of his eyes, "Hidan and Kakuzu killed a very important Konoha nin."

"Who?" Sakura demanded as she hitched forward in her seat. She knew all the important Konoha nin. She just hoped that…

"The Sandaime's son," Sasori stated. His gaze pierced her.

The world around Sakura froze, her blood turning into molten ice. Her eyes widened and her breath hitched in her throat. 'The Sandaime's son…' she thought as the breath was released and something akin to a strangled cry poured out of her throat, "Asuma-sensei…" she managed to breathe out. Her heart rate sped up even more as she gazed at the four people in front of her, "The Akatsuki killed Asuma-sensei." Sakura's voice was pitched high as her head spun. Her fingers clutched at the edge of the wooden chair, her nails digging into the material and leaving behind small crescent moons. "They killed Asuma-sensei!"

Silence ensued as Kisame picked up his bowl of rice again, but his eyes remained trained on the pink haired girl. Sakura's breaths turned shallow as her pupils dilated and her nostrils flared. Her body started hunching in on itself as her feet lifted off the ground as she tried to refrain from allowing her dry sobs to tear out of her throat. "I assume you know who that man was then, yeah?" Deidara stated as he too picked up his bowl of rice. His eyes were trained on Itachi who sat still and composed staring at Sakura.

Sakura didn't hear Deidara's words as thoughts raced through her mind. None of the thoughts would stick. Her knees were now almost pressed to her lips as her eyes continued to dilate. All she could see where swirling colors, green, purple and red, "The others… a chuunin… oh god Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji," she managed to choke out as tears ran down her face and soaked her knees. Her arms wrapped out herself and her fingers began to pull. "They just, they… oh god… not Asuma-sensei…"

"A friend of your friend then I suppose," Sasori stated with narrowed eyes as he too stared at Sakura without reaching for his bowl of rice.

"I thought…" Sakura murmured, she suddenly turned her blazing green eyes, "I thought you said that you would try not to engage in a fight with them!" She paused and shook her head viciously as her feet dropped back down to the floor with a thud and her hands came up to press against her temples. "Oh no… oh Kurenai-sensei!" Sakura had stood up quickly and screamed as her hands shook and her knees grew weak.

She clutched her stomach, her side, anything that she could reach and still feel human, connected what had happened back in Konoha. "They, they were going to have a child… that's why she couldn't… couldn't teach me genjutsu…" she muttered as she shook her head and hutched over. Deidara's hand shot out from beside her to prevent her forehead directly meeting with the table. A sob tore out of her throat as she looked up with tears pooled at the corner of her eyes, "They were going to have a child! Why would the Akatsuki kill Asuma-sensei, why?" she cried out. Deidara swiftly removed his hand as Kisame's eyes widened. Itachi and Sasori continued to watch. Her hands clenched at the edges of the table as she realized no one was going to reply to her desperate wails. She sat back down in her chair as tears ran down her cheeks. She roughly smeared them on her cheeks with the heel of her hands as her body continued to shake. Her pupils were still dilated, her whole entire body still on high alert.

"We, as a division, said that we would try Sakura, I thought you had understood that," Itachi clarified smoothly his onyx orbs flashing red as he gazed at her actions, putting meaning to her movements. His voice was hard and stern as he ran his eyes over her face, "We are still the Akatsuki and we do not have those kind of connections to others."

Sakura's whole body shook with a silent sob as she covered her face with her hands, "Ino's team and Kurenai-sensei doesn't deserve this, oh god they don't deserve this," Sakura managed to blubber out not caring what Itachi had to say. She already knew what he was going to say, but that didn't make it any better. It didn't make it any less _wrong,_ "They were happy. Their team was perfect; they all loved each other so much… Oh god Asuma-sensei loved Kurenai-sensei so much…they were, they were going to be a family…" Her voice faded as she looked through her fingers at the four men in front of her.

Her gaze continued to water as she stared at the people in front of her. "Why?" She was asking a totally different question now as she stared at the men in front of her. "Why…" 'Am I still here?'

_"Monsters…"_

"Who… who are…?"

_"They'll run scared then, they won't fight you then… they won't leave you behind then."_

"Why…?"

_"They left you behind…"_

Sasori's eyes shifted slightly at what she was saying and found that he simply understood. His eyes widened fractionally as he watched her and chose just then to speak. He watched as she continued to shake, "Can you live with that Sakura?" Itachi's eyes snapped to his figure, but Sasori placated him with a cooling hand, hidden away from view.

Sakura's sobs suddenly halted as she looked up into Sasori's dark brown eyes and how they had locked into her glassy green ones. "Live with…"

"With the fact that you are part of the organization who killed this man, that tore apart this family that was to be, that you are going to be considered a murderer, a Konoha nin killer."

"But… but…"

"In your past did you ever blame a particular shinobi for killing one of your comrades or did you blame the organization that they were a part of? What do you think those of Konoha will do? What do you think those three people Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji will do? How do you think this child you speak of will feel growing up without a father?"

Sakura's breath hitched in her throat again as she looked up at the four men in front of her. Kisame was calmly eating his fish but his eyes were still trained on her form. She turned her eyes to Deidara who was trying to avoid her gaze as much as possible. Itachi and Sasori were still looking at her as thought hey could see right through her.

"I…" Sakura paused as tears ran down her cheeks. She gazed at the people one more time before springing up from her chair and knocking it back. "I…" she managed to mutter one more time as she clenched her fist. "Everything is just so…" 'So _wrong_.' She shuddered and shook as she turned to the door and sprinted towards it. Almost losing her balance, she clutched onto the frame and took in a deep breath. She kneeled over again as wet sobs erupted from her throat and tears ran down her face. 'A choice.' "This… this is…"

"Sakura…"

"It's… it's…"

"You need to make the choice."

"Where… why…"

"Those who left you behind or those who killed those who did."

Sakura's eyes watered some more as another shocked sob burst from her lips. 'Inner Sakura…' She shifted again and heaved herself out of the room.

"Oi, leaving is not a good idea in this situation," Kisame pointed out. His bowl was once again set on the table, his eyes shining in something akin to _care_. Sakura peeked and her voice caught in her throat as she looked back into the darkened hall. Dry heaves tousled through her being. "Sakura…"

"Those who left you behind…" Sakura tried to get rid of the voice, she tried to get rid of the want, the unimaginable, "Or those who killed those who did."

Sakura spun around in fury as her hand clench at the doorframe splintering the wood that was in her palm, "Shut up! SHUT UP! You don't understand anything you fucking guppy!" Kisame's eyes widened as he pointed at himself before turning to face Itachi who looked slightly perplexed.

She ran out of the dinning room and the four men cringed as they heard a door slam down the hall. Kisame's eyes were narrowed as it took all of his effort not to crush the rice bowl that was now back in his hands.

"Yeah, so I say that was a pleasant dinner conversation," Deidara stated as his eyes stared at the empty and destroyed door way.

_Hair_

Sakura dug through her things rapidly with tears in her eyes. She tore through the closet and then she looked around the room. There was nothing else to search through. She tore into the closet again as her body continued to shake and her hands ripped through all of the fabric that belonged to her. She needed to find it; she needed to find the thing that she was looking for. She paused as she remembered that her object was no longer in her possession. Her hands dropped to her side as she took a step away from the closet and gently shut the door. The loud creak echoed in the room before she smashed her fist into the solid wood, no chakra, and little damage. She rested her forehead on the door, her pink bangs covering her face, as her breathing got deeper. It had been left behind three months ago when she had been taken away from her team.

Reeling back suddenly and cursing loudly Sakura grabbed a substitute from her pouch thrown in the corner of the room and rushed into the washroom.

She stared into the mirror and at her tear stained face. And as she stared she saw her image waver and fade before coming back. Her eyes watered at what she saw before her, fading… gone. Green orbs clenched shut before opening back up again; the green eyes were still there, still staring at her but… fading.

Her eyes were puffy and red and her chest was still heaving at she gazed at her ugly reflection. She was ugly when she cried; she was ugly when she had... 'Kisame was right…' "ARG!" Sakura yelled as she grabbed her hair with one hand clenched the object that was in her other hand and brought it up to her hair. Her eyes were clenched tightly shut, her hands wavering.

"_A choice_."

"What are you doing?"

Sakura turned to the washroom door, her hands dropping down to her sides and looked at Sasori who was leaning on the doorframe staring at the kunai that was held in her hand. "My hair is growing past my shoulders," she stated almost calmly, her green eyes cloudy. Pink strands floated down to the bathroom floor. 'This is my choice…'

"I can see that, but why are you cutting it now?"

Sakura turned back to the mirror and stared at her reflection almost serenely, "Girl's cut their hair sometimes randomly, when they need a trim. Whatever. But some girl's mostly cut their hair when something big has happened, when something life changing has just occurred." She stared at her reflection and found that she no longer wanted to put a kunai through the harsh glass and stab at the lucid green.

"I am deducing that this is not one of your needing a trim moments," Sasori stated as he stepped closer to her. He seemed absolutely unfazed by her as she looked up at him with the eyes that were slowly returning back to their usual luster.

Sakura shook her head as she brought her hands back up once more and chopped the other side of her hair and reached for the hair in the back. Her voice was low and her arms were shaking as she replied, "I… consider it pretty life changing… pretty life changing… changing that I have decided… decided to stay... to stay." The last long stands of pink hair were sheered and hit the floor.

"A choice."

"I would have used the kunai that I used almost three years ago when I first cut my hair during a life changing moment, and every other instant after that. However, it seems that I didn't bring it with me, so I decided to use a different one," Sakura laughed as she look at the weapon in her hand for a moment before she set the kunai on the counter. Her voice was hysterical, "It's not the same… b-but it will have to do… it will just have to do."

Sasori nodded as he approached her again, he touched her clothed shoulder lightly and took the kunai from the table. Sakura's eyes followed his movements and when he moved behind, where she could no longer see him, her eyes flashed up to look at his reflection. Sasori stood behind her with the kunai held delicately in his hands; she had never seen him wield a physical weapon before. Carefully he brought it up to the long and chunky locks and fixed her hair in the back where she could not see and uttered no more words.

Sakura watched his reflections as he almost tenderly worked his way through the uncut locks before moving to the rough chunks that she had left on either side of her head. He delicately nicked off uneven strands and brushed them away from her shirt with a light flutter of his fingers. Sakura was absolutely fascinated as her gaze turned to his face. There was no anger, no impatience or ridicule for her decidedly unstable reactions. He was just Sasori. He understood. They didn't have to say anything to each other to understand.

It wasn't necessary either. The last strand fell away. Someone else had something to say.

Itachi stood deeper in Sasori's room having heard all that Sakura had to offer to the puppet master. His posture was calm, but his eyes were cold and calculating. She shivered as she looked up at Sasori while he placed the kunai back on the counter and backed away from her, in the opposite direction of where Itachi stood. Sakura watched Itachi out of the corner of her eye and Sasori nodded to the man with the sharingan. "If that is true then it is truly time." Sakura could barely even see Itachi's lips move.

"Time for what?" Sakura gritted out between her teeth as her head fully turned in his direction, "What else is there?" She looked back up at Sasori and then back at Itachi. "Time for what?"

Silence as Sasori placed his hand on the small of Sakura's back. Silence as she was lead forward, back into Sasori's bedroom. Silence as Itachi gazed at her unwavering face. Silence as his lips parted and he whispered like the tolls of death, "For you to know that we are all aware that you were sent here by the Hokage."

All the air in Sakura's chest disappeared.

"This was your choice."

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

_"I-I tried to keep it t-together. I don't want to be weak anymore Shishou, I-I d-don't w-want to be w-weak!"_

"I told you Sakura, I could see right through you the moment that I met you."

"But that is a lifetime choice Sakura. If you are to leave, the next time we see you, we will not fail to kill you."

"Was probably right to begin with and false by the time we ended it."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

So I have to admit, this chapter was fun to write despite being totally confounding. One of the hardest chapters yet concerning characters and everything, but hopefully it will be enjoyed.

A lot of time has passed between the previous chapter and this one, so yes the difference in the way that Sakura interacts with Kisame and Itachi is supposed to be dramatically different. She's gotten comfortable and she's happy, the whole first part lends to the second part of this whole entire chapter and why she does the insane thing that she kind of does.

I brought in elements of the actual story line woot woot! Note though, I didn't fully read or research back on these events, so the idea might be a little askewed, but I probably would have twisted the idea anyway in order to match up with everything else that is going to happen.

Oh yes, welcome back Inner Sakura! Sorry that is might be confusing when Inner Sakura talks, but yah...

This moment right here is what is going to lend to the rest of the whole entire piece. Woot woot!

Hope you all enjoyed!


	13. Stay

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: Thank you to those who reviewed!

* * *

Chapter 13: Stay

_Sakura sobbed as she scrubbed at the tears that were streaming out of her eyes, down her cheeks and dripping off of her chin. Her cheeks and nose were a bright red, the skin on her cheekbones raw from the harsh glide of her palms. She hiccupped and curled up on the sofa that was situated in the Hokage's office and continued to cry into her hands. She was desperately trying to hold on to the tears before they could fall and all the while failing. "I'm so s-sorry," Sakura managed to sob, "I-I tried to keep it t-together. I don't know w-what's come over me, just give me a m-moment please…" A moment later and Sakura was still sobbing, her nose runny, as Tsunade glanced at her with sad amber eyes. "I don't want to be weak anymore Shishou, I-I d-don't w-want to be w-weak!"_

_Tsunade was sitting at her desk staring out of the window and into the radiant moonlight. It was shining down on the mountain, illuminating the faces of the past Hokage and Tsunade herself. 'I wonder what they would have done…' the woman pondered as a cloud drifted over the rays of moonlight and casted her own face in the shadows. Tsunade frowned as one by one all of the faces disappeared into the darkness before the moonlight shone once again. It first illuminated, on the grand mountain, where the Hokage knew Naruto's face would one day be. Tsunade's frown twitched again as she swung her eyes to glance at her apprentice. She was angry with the little blond Hokage at the moment though. It had been about eight months into Sakura's training with the Godaime Hokage and she had finally done what Tsunade had expected to happen much sooner. She had broken down. "I know Sakura…"_

_Sakura sobbed again as she continued to scrub at her eyes and her cheeks and her chin. Her nose ran as she wiped the mucus away as well and let out a sputtering cough between her sobs. The pink haired girl bent over in pain as she clutched her stomach while the tears continued to flow and the sadness continued to invade. "Oh Shishou, this is my punishment, my p-punishment isn't it?" Sakura asked as she grasped onto her stomach tighter and dug her nails into her side. Her eyes clenched closed as images ran through her mind, images of a little blond haired boy that used to sit, lonely, on the swing at the academy._

_"Punishment for what?" Tsunade asked slowly as she turned her eyes towards her apprentice and gave her a small sad smile. The moonlight was bathing Tsunade tenderly but casted shadows over Sakura's form. Tsunade could remember a time when she had been entrenched in the shadows as well. It had been a shadow that had been chased away by the sunlight-inducing boy, the boy that was now casting a shadow over his own teammate. 'One cannot win all.'_

_"For everything I've done in my past. For how I t-treated them when I was y-younger, for not being to u-understand…"_

_"Understand what?"_

_Sakura looked up at Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage flinched as she saw how red Sakura's eyes had become and the endless tearstains that were being formed on her delicate and changing cheeks. "Understand N-Naruto and S-Sasuke-kun, understand them and what it was like to not have a family. I shunned Naruto when he was younger because everyone else shunned him as well. He was the prankster that didn't belong and that no one liked. And since I wanted to belong with these people I shunned him too. I thought he was an idiot…"_

_"You still do."_

_"No… I mean… I mean…"_

_"I know what you mean Sakura." Tsunade observed as another sob ripped through Sakura's throat and the pink haired girl nodded frantically._

_"And yet all a-along I was doing the exact some thing others had done to me when I was younger," Sakura shook her head again, "I mean, it's not the same. I couldn't even fathom losing my parents but…"_

_"Sakura…"_

_"Ino had the strength to step out of those bonds and she made me into something... into what ever it is that I've become. But I… I hated Naruto; I never could return the favor. I was not as strong or as kind as Ino and now I'm being punished for it. Naruto didn't have any family and I didn't help him at all."_

_"You can't blame yourself for that Sakura, society is a mighty power. You weren't the only one."_

_"B-but Shishou… when I was first assigned to Team 7 with Sasuke-kun I thought I loved him. I thought I loved him with all my heart and maybe I do… now… still, but I know that I didn't then. Not back then. Do you know how I found out?" _

_"How did you find out Sakura?"_

_Sakura let out a sob, "Because until that day I didn't know that he too didn't have parents. That I loved a boy that was so much like the boy that I couldn't stand, the boy that I couldn't break societal bonds for." Her sobs had eased slightly as she looked up into Tsunade's amber eyes. Her green eyes reflected in the light of the moon and the Hokage could see that Sakura was indeed, broken. "He was also a lone child that was also just making his way through the world like Naruto. I was an obsessive person that clung to him constantly when in truth he needed someone to cling to. If I had acted on another stupid impulse, if I had clung to him just a little bit more he might have left the village… oh god how can I live with that?"_

_"But he didn't leave the village and I doubt greatly that that would be the only reason he would leave."_

_"I'm not saying that it would be the only reason Shishou, I'm saying that it would be my reason, my part in the whole entire game and you must understand how much my part must matter to me."_

_Tsunade reflected and glanced out the window; she saw a face that she would never physically see again, "I do." 'Dan died in my arms… I was the one who couldn't save him.' A headache was beginning to press down on her temples and Tsunade let out a long sigh as she tried to ignore the numbing pain, 'Not yet.'_

_"Sasuke-kun and Naruto were so much alike and I hated one and clung to the other. How can any of that be love? How could I have thought I loved Sasuke-kun when I insulted my own family in front of him, when all in all he just wanted anyone, any family member there for him! How could I have loved him, when I couldn't even care for Naruto? I'm such an idiot; I've always been such an idiot!"_

_"Now you're just rambling Sakura."_

_Sakura fell silent for a moment as her quiet sniffles continued to echo around the room. Tsunade looked out of the window again, over the village, over her people and all that they had suffered. She lamented that she didn't see the two people that she needed to see most right now, that her apprentice needed to see must right now. 'Sometimes words can't heal, sometimes only presence can…' The small sniffles suddenly died out and Tsunade stiffened slightly in her chair before Sakura started to laugh. Tsunade turned her whole chair to face her student. It creaked ominously as to serenade the broken sound as the laughs cut through the deafening silence and continued to rise in volume and pitch until they were absolutely hysterical, "I deserve every bit of this…"_

_"No one deserves pain Sakura."_

_Sakura continued to laugh and looked once more into the wise amber eyes of the Godaime Hokage, "They had their families ripped away from them and I never understood how that would feel. Now they are ripped away from me, the two…no the three people I consider my family and I understand…"_

_"Sakura…"_

_"Not only am I horrible friend, but I'm a horrible daughter too. I already know that if my parents were to die tomorrow, it wouldn't hurt nearly this much. I'm a horrible person all in all aren't I?"_

_"Sakura…"_

_Sakura stood up from her seat and wiped at the tears that continued to run down her face. "I'm sorry Shishou, for bothering you. I know that I should not have come at this hour of the night… I just needed someone to talk to is all. Sorry for disturbing…" her green eyes drifted down to the half finished bottle of sake sitting on the table, "your own memories." Sakura's smile was weak as more tears continued to run down her face._

_Sakura turned around to leave but before she could grasp the door handle Tsunade had enveloped her in a tight hug from behind. "No one deserves to be left behind no matter what they have done in their life Sakura," Tsunade murmured gently into her ear before releasing her. Sakura looked up to her Shishou in wonder and questioned if the woman ever cried during her lonely nights, "If they understood you, then they would have protected you in a way that you wouldn't have to feel what they have felt."_

_"Then they don't understand."_

_"Even the greatest people in the world will never understand everything."_

_"Aa."_

_"Are you okay Sakura?"_

_Sakura sniffled again as she turned back towards her mentor and hugged the woman back, "Oh Shishou, sometimes I just want to be acknowledged by them, by my family, by the people that matter most to me in this world." Tsunade stiffened as she dissected Sakura's statement while awkwardly patting the girl on the back of her head. Sakura had grown taller since months previous._

_"You will be acknowledged Sakura..." Tsunade murmured as she turned so that they both could look out into the night sky and upon the Hokage Mountain. The empty space beside the carved face of the Godaime Hokage stood out to them both, "Someday the right people will come along and tell you your worth, until that day you just have to be patient and continue fighting with all of your might. There are reasons in this world why people don't tell you what they really intend to."_

_"Hai, Shishou." Sakura could see Naruto's face. Tsunade could see those who never would make it onto the mountainside._

_The two sat in the office for the remainder of the night talking to each other soothingly. Sakura acquired knowledge about Tsunade's past that she had not already known and laughed at all the similarities that had occurred between the two generations of shinobi. Her smile was small, but genuine when she thought of Sasuke and how he hadn't left the village, to Orochimaru, for a power that would bring him into the darkness. Tsunade would often laugh about the men in her life, the second, third and fourth sake bottle emptying with the flow of her words. Sakura didn't drink any but she joined in with her Shishou, talking about how they had been such foolish girls in their past, in their present and maybe even still in their future._

_When the sun rose in the morning Sakura walked out of the Hokage's office with her head held just a little bit higher than the day before. Shizune had been sitting outside like she usually was and Genma had been sitting with her. Shizune gave Sakura a small nod in acknowledgement and a smile; Shizune had been expecting this day to come as well and didn't look down on the pink haired girl for it. _

_Sakura understood now why the astute Shizune even allowed the Hokage to drink at all. She could never take that comfort fully away from the cracked, but not shattered woman. When Sakura disappeared down the hall, towards the stairs, Shizune gave Genma a brilliant smile and he chuckled back at her._

_And Sakura for the first time in a long time relished in the warmth of the sun spilling down on her face. The feeling that she wouldn't forget since that night, where all the darkness of the world was set upon her shoulders to be taken off by the rising of the sun. Sakura looked up to the Hokage Mountain and smiled, the empty place where the face of her dear friend would be was in the direct path of the light. He would someday be the sunlight shining down upon this village, as rightfully Naruto should be._

_Four months later Tsunade had explained to Sakura why she was to be kept as a shinobi that was not acknowledged for her skill. _

_Sakura had thought that this was what Tsunade had meant._

"Sakura! Snap out of it!"

Now Sakura wasn't sure anymore.

Sakura was hastily pulled from her memory as her inner voice shouted out to her in a desperate plea for survival. She blinked steadily, not understanding where she was and why she was sitting where as moments ago she had been standing in Sasori and Deidara's bathroom cropping her too long hair.

She was sitting on the couch once again in the living area. It was where the three had migrated to after Itachi had given Sakura her shocking revelation and Sakura had barely managed to register her movement through the unfamiliarly quiet house. She had known she had sensed danger from these people during their dinner conversation. She just hadn't known that this was how, 'That this is going to be how it's going to end.' Sakura had just thought that she wouldn't ever have to make use of Ikibi's training or accept death so, so very soon. 'But it's reasonable,' Sakura smiled inwardly as her hazy eyes cleared and the image of the four in front of her shot into clarity and clouds drifted over her pupils, 'I am the blossom that is celebrated for its tragically short life.' Red and black swirled in her vision before the forms of the ones that she had chosen appeared before her.

When they had arrived in the area, the other two Akatsuki members had been already waiting. Deidara was sitting on the couch, one arm thrown over the back as he had watched her mechanically go to sit down on the soft upholstery all the while still staring off into space, beyond the ceiling, beyond even what he even suspected was the sky. "Yeah, you cut your hair Sakura." Her name rolled off of his tongue easily and he swallowed at the feeling. It was almost strange seeing her so subdued. It was strange not being able to tell her that she looked better with her hair cut. Sakura had nodded dumbly as she was pushed to sit on the couch between Deidara and Kisame. No reaction from the girl, no light in her green eyes, just a cloudiness that Deidara didn't know would go away.

When her eyes had still yet to clear Kisame had spoken as well, "Your hair does look better short, you know. I was right neh bitch?"

Sakura had nodded again; still trapped within what ever memory she had been engrossed in. The other two had taken a position across from her so that they would be able to see her every movement, every tremble and look her in the eyes all the while. "Silence you two," Itachi demanded as his onyx orbs bled red, black tomoe spinning as he stared at the girl before him.

Sasori and Itachi saw the green orbs clear as her eyes shot around the room before landing on the puppet master and the Uchiha. "How long have you known?" Sakura demanded as her lips pulled into a taught line. She tried to inconspicuously press her body into a tighter space so that she wouldn't have to touch the two Akatsuki members that were on either side of her. They were being too warm and she didn't want the warmth right now. She couldn't stand the warmth right now. "I have asked you how long you have known!"

"Since I have asked you to join us," Sasori answered with a wave of his hand and solid brown eyes, "I told you Sakura, I could see right through you the moment that I met you. Everything that you were, are and ever will be."

"And… and yet you let me live here?" Sakura demanded once again as her green eyes blazed.

"Sakura!" her Inner voice shouted in desperation. But it was different now, different in that she was all that she was supposed to be and that the Inner was all that she had been long before.

"You let me know your location, understand your secrets, experience your skills and most of all you trained me? What was your motive? You couldn't have possibly done this simply because you were _bored_." Her eyes flashed up to Kisame and Deidara, who quirked an eyebrow at her before looking away and chuckling deeply. Sakura scowled.

"Ah…" Itachi replied leaning back in his seat with a smirk plastered on his face. The tomoe in his eyes were still spinning rapidly as he gazed at the enraged girl. He was a little bit surprised at her fervor, but as he looked over at the ever-calm Sasori, he knew that he should not have been.

"What were you thinking? What are your intentions with me?" Sakura cried as she restrained herself from standing.

"Keep calm Sakura, the only way you are going to get out of this is if you keep calm," Inner Sakura whispered.

Sakura's eyes widened fractionally as her lips pulled up into a snarl. She shoved her Inner self back a little ways as her fists clenched. Her green eyes flashed again. "Was everything you told me a lie?" That thought pained her more than the idea of dying by their hands. 'I'm going to die by their hands…' The adrenalin rush died bit by bit.

"Every bit of lie as what you've told us," Kisame answered as he leaned back on the arm of the chair, away from her and with cold, calculating silver irises. Sakura tried not to flinch at his dark voice and turned her head to stare at the sword wielder.

'But… I haven't lied. Not as much as I should have, not as much as I would have preferred. Damn it!' Sakura thought, as she looked at the four Akatsuki members that were surrounding her. She tried to imitate Kisame's hard gaze combined with Sasori's indifferent look, "Even though my intention was to lie," she bit back the urge to chew off her tongue, "And wheedle my way around here, I haven't been lying that much…"

"What are you doing Sakura?" Inner Sakura was the girl that simply just wanted to live, devastated life or not.

"I-I believe..." The imitation was obviously not working, the words were just flowing out of her mouth, 'Because I had chosen… and I would rather…'

"We know," Itachi stated calmly as his smirk showed amusement as he tilted his chin up, "You are… a terrible actor." Sakura shook as his eyes bored right into hers; she half expected to be casted into a shadowy, bloody illusion of her death, but she tilted her own chin up high and met his eyes with hers.

"Sakura, I have already told you," the impatient fervor of his voice broke through his calm façade as Sasori tapped his fingers on the wood of the chair he was sitting on impatiently, "I could see right through you from the very moment that I met you. I knew everything I needed to know about you in order to get you to join us. And although I would hate to repeat it yet again… everything Sakura."

"Just because you can see everything about me means that I can…"

"And yes, I truly did want you to join us, no normal person could have annihilated Hiruko and the Sandaime Kazekage like you had. I was impressed; I had never initially planned to take you in. After all you were just some weak kunoichi that had taken possession of my poison and no more, no more than that until I had fought you and had nearly killed you. Indeed, if only you had known how much I had lamented when I had thought you had deceased," a smirk appeared on Sasori's face, "But last, you had surprised me even there. I did not choose you because I knew you were assigned to be chosen, I chose you because I…" he rolled his eyes, "We, I guess… tch, would have sincerely wanted you," Sasori explained as he slightly brushed his bangs from his eyes. His dark brown eyes almost seemed to glow as Sakura stared into their depths. She reeled back in shock and clutched at her chest before shaking her head and letting out the breath that she hadn't known she had been holding.

"Yeah and in the end it was good decision," Deidara managed to laugh as his hand dropped down onto her shoulder. It flew right back up as Sasori's cold gaze turned on Deidara and the blonde chuckled. The mood around Sakura lightened up ever so slightly. Sakura registered the fact that Deidara was trying to calm her speeding heart rate and regulate her breathing with his quirky comments and warm touches.

A small din was finally heard in the living area as Sakura relaxed and allowed her arms to brush against Kisame and Deidara's. "You were teamed with my little brother correct?"

Sakura snapped up to look at Itachi. "Yes."

"That must have been devastating. I know that I left him in a little bit of a mess when he was younger," Sakura quirked her eyebrow at Itachi's frivolous choice of words, "I had expected that he would not be able to make any friends, I had expected for his hate to consume him."

"We didn't let that happen" Sakura stated solidly, her eyes had turned hard. 'And I thought I had been in the clear. What is Itachi doing?'

Itachi looked at her with no feasible expression as the red tint finally disappeared, "I know that that did not happen. I fought him the day you came to us. He was not filled with hatred, he had found a brother in the kyuubi, but in the mean time all of his unrest was settled upon your shoulders was it not?"

"W-what?" Sakura was finally thrown from her throne of confidence. This was the one thing she hadn't expected to be addressed when Itachi had first confronted her. 'Actually this had nothing to do with anything…'

"Watch out Sakura… Itachi is cunning…"

"Yeah, its simple. You said you loved him and you believed you meant it at the time and probably did… eventually."

Sakura's eyes nearly swirled as she scanned all the way back to her flashback and wondered if Itachi could indeed read minds. 'That would explain a lot…'

"So when he had found some happiness, the sadness in his life had to go somewhere. You loved him and so forth you were willing to shoulder his sadness."

"I did what?" 'Why does it feel like I'm being hit over the head by rocks, what's going on?'

"It might not have been clear to you Sakura, but the sadness that you shouldered is this issue that you have about being left… behind." The word rolled off his tongue as the corners of his mouth pulled up. He watched her as emotions flashed across her face and began to slowly destroy any part of resolve that she had had. Sakura's heart pounded, "Because I had left my brother behind… and you took that upon your shoulders by loving him."

"T-that is ridiculous," Sakura tried to laugh as her mind whirled.

"Considering how stupid you can be at times, I don't fail to believe it," Kisame stated with a toothy grin. He snuck a glance at Itachi.

"And Uzumaki Naruto, that mutant bundle of energy. Even though you hated him when you were younger you grew to admire him. He has many outstanding attributes, does he not?" Itachi inquired.

"Y-yes, but Naruto understands… and I don't love him like that, so he wouldn't be able to shoulder his pain on me unlike Sasuke-kun if what you have to say is true."

"No, Naruto is not made from his sadness because he has had it since he was born. He is made from his happiness and his want to be acknowledged. Don't you find it odd Sakura that he never wanted your acknowledgement?"

"Yes he did!"

"In the form of love and affection, not in power," Sasori replied with a flick of his fingers, "And really, what is love and affection when there is no power?"

Sakura's eyes widened as she felt the two that were silent beside her shift. She knew why it was Itachi and Sasori doing all the talking, they were the smartest in the group, and they were the ones that had the ability to _see_. "Other than that Sakura, Naruto has deemed you as being behind him since the beginning. You never had a chance to catch up."

Sakura's breath quickened, "Why are you telling me all of this? Aren't you supposed to kill my instead!" Desperation.

Deidara blinked, "Kill you?"

Sasori's eyes flashed, "Because we want you to know Sakura, that we have accepted you here despite your 'mission' for these very reasons. We know your monsters and we are not them. We don't make you shoulder our pain because you feel attached to us. Because of the nature of your recruitment, we have indeed shouldered some of _your_ fears."

"Take back Sasori, take back what I have indirectly given."

"B-but, there are people in Konoha that have also done just that! They aren't all bad, they try to take on my pain as well."

"Like who? Your two mentors; the copy-nin and the Hokage?" Kisame scoffed in distaste.

Sakura looked at him through widened eyes, "How do you know?"

"Only one other person has your brute strength, yeah. So she must have been the one to teach you, yeah," Deidara seemed to be a little bit insulted.

Sakura wanted to crack her head on the table and just get it over with. It would have been less painful that way. "B-but you can't argue against the fact that they cared for me. Both of them cared for me!" Sakura screeched. She was losing her mind. She didn't want these people to point out all the things that she had already suspected to be true. She wanted to remain ignorant, but it didn't help that she already had ingrained thoughts about Kakashi-sensei in her mind.

Itachi paused analyzing her facial features and determined what he needed to say and what she had already known before speaking, "You are not Anbu. It is apparent from your lack of a tattoo and your unfamiliarity with any of the members. And yet you work for the Hokage doing missions such as Akatsuki infiltration. She must be keeping you as a secret, is she not?"

"She told me why already." For once since the turn in the conversation, Sakura's eyes were set in stone.

"Are you are sure that that is the true reason, whatever it may be?" Sasori asked, "Are you sure that she was not making up an excuse to hide the shame that she may have harbored for you. That in truth the reason why she had not allowed you to be acknowledged as strong by others was because she did not want you to be associated with her?"

Sakura stiffened as her eyes widened. 'It had taken Tsunade four months, four months to tell me the real words of comfort that I had needed to hear that very night.' Why hadn't the Hokage told her then when it was obvious she was not going to back down from the training, when she had needed it the most? "That can't be… you can't possibly be implying…"

"What makes the Godaime such a wonderful exception to all of your other friends. They treat you all like that, why would the Hokage treat you any differently? Deep inside Sakura, you know that it is true," Sasori stated as he fluttered his eyelids and leaned forward, "And you also know that we have never treated you that way."

"We can and have promised you something that your old team never could, to never leave you behind."

Sakura's whole entire world fractured again reminding her of a time not so very long ago when another set of simple words had nearly destroyed her. She had been left in pieces in the Hokage's office that day and maybe it was only just now that the pieces were being put back together. Sakura's eyes fluttered closed and suddenly she saw the sunlight that was on the other side of the frame. Her lips quivered before she burst into a roaring laugh that managed to make the room tremble and the men around her stare, "So what you're trying to tell me, is that even though I should be killed, should be considered a spy and interrogated for it, should be abandoned, that you actually want me to stay."

"It is your choice to stay," Itachi stated.

"Yeah, we won't stop you if you want to walk out on us," Deidara agreed.

"We'll even let you go back to your village if that is what you wish to do. It's retribution enough that you would return to those people," Kisame smirked and leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms behind his head.

"But if you make that choice, it will be a lifetime choice Sakura. If you are to leave, the next time we see you, we will not fail to kill you," Sasori stated with a raise of his head, "And we will know exactly how to kill you."

It was like she was punched in the stomach. 'I can't run… but… do I want to run? Shishou… she… they… I…' She flickered her eyes around the room and at the four faces that were staring so intently at her and how they all refused to look away as she contemplated what her decision should be. She had been so used to the averted eyes when it came to her insignificant presence. 'There really was no decision to be made.' Long ago, she had already unconsciously made the decision to what she would have done at the one-year mark. It just seemed like the time had come sooner than she had expected and with a lot more convincing on the part of the others. "Are you sure?" Sakura asked slowly as her heart rate began to slow down again for the second or third time that night.

"Sure about what?" Itachi asked in clarification.

"Are you sure that want me around if I decide to stay? What if someday I decide to go rogue and reveal to all of Konoha where the Akatsuki live, what their daily routines are, and all of their quirky habits so that not only will you be killed but your pride will have gone with you," Sakura smiled brightly. The mood instantly lightened in the little room as all four men sat back in their respective seats.

Deidara smiled, "But you won't."

Sakura shook her head, "No I won't. If you say you want me here, than I am here to stay. And besides who would cook for you men if I wasn't here. You'd start losing all of your money on bad, expensive take out again."

"Hey, that was good take out," Kisame snorted.

Sakura raised one eyebrow and shook her head, "You have the taste buds of a fish, and if you think my cooking is good then the take out has to be nasty stuff."

Deidara laughed, "Yeah, that reminds me, we did the dishes for you while you were uh… cutting your hair… yeah." Sakura laughed at Deidara's expression, it seemed like no man in the world understood the hair cutting, water shed moment phenomenon that existed in most girls.

"Thank you," Sakura whispered softly and looked at Itachi and Sasori. "Thank you, thank you for letting me see, for allowing me to understand my past, to understand who I am and why I have become so." Her head had finally stopped buzzing and she didn't care anymore. She brushed aside the pain and the agony for the comfort that she received from them. She didn't want to think upon it anymore, she was finally happy.

"Indeed…"

But some thoughts couldn't stop buzzing, "But just because I have chosen to stay with you does not mean that my old team has been pushed out of my mind or that Konoha does not have some semblance of importance to me. I still wish for you not to attack a Konoha nin unless it is deemed necessary. I don't want there to be another Asuma-sensei and I definitely don't want it to be through our hands… because… because…"

"Understood," Sasori complied and a smile nearly graced his lips. Sakura smiled back at him as she realized that tears were steadily running down her face, but she didn't feel sad.

"That, is actually what I wanted to hear Sakura…" Itachi stated with a true smile adorning his face as he stood up. Sakura followed him with her wide eyes as he walked to the exit of the living area. He placed his hand on the doorframe and looked back at her, "Follow me Sakura. I will tell you my story…"

Sakura's eyes widened as she automatically stood up. She paused as she looked back down at Deidara and Kisame who were both looking away with mild disdain on their faces. Sakura gave a small smile and walked out of the living area with Itachi. Before she was totally gone she looked back into the room and threw a smile at the other three boys. "Thank you," she mouthed before disappearing behind the wall after the Uchiha.

When the shinobi in the living area were sure that Sakura was out of hearing range they all loosened and turned towards each other. Deidara and Kisame were concentrating more on Sasori than Sasori was concentrating on them. The puppet master's eyes were casted away from everything and it seemed as though he were in deep thought. "Everything that you just said…" Kisame started off.

"Yeah, you saw all of that in her?" Deidara finished, "Sasori no danna, I had no idea that you and Itachi..."

Sasori stared at the door and turned back to the other two men. He shook his head. "No Deidara," there was a long pause as a smirk slightly pulled at Sasori's lips, "All Itachi and I knew was that Sakura was insecure of her position in Konoha compared to her position here. We had, after all, ensured that feeling in her since the beginning. We were simply picking our way through the conversation, letting her pull out conclusions from our generalized but directed statements that could have been either taken as true or false. From that point we developed more on her insecurities, manipulated her, and destroyed a part of her."

"Yeah, but she would have stayed anyways if you hadn't done that," Deidara pointed out, "She would have stayed anyways if you hadn't done the Akatsuki thing we always do." Deidara's eyes darkened for a bit as he glanced toward the way that Itachi had left. He turned back to the puppet master a little bit more miffed than mere seconds before.

"She might have, but for how long? Itachi and I were not willing to take that chance. It is true, she does know too much about us and we _would_ have killed her if she had chosen differently despite what we have said…"

"Even I understood that," Kisame muttered.

"So everything that she concluded about the Hokage?"

"Was probably right to begin with and false by the time we ended it."

Kisame let out a laugh as he looked over to where the pink haired girl had disappeared, "It seems as though Akatsuki in the end is still a greedy, selfish organization despite what the bitch thinks." The flavor in his mouth wasn't as good as he wanted it to be.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"It's a little bit hard to calm down after that conversation."

"Declaring your desertion of your home village is usually very permanent."

"Then for what reason would you…let him…live…"

"That I am dying as we speak."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

This chapter had the biggest issue with probably being late... that was because I really didn't want to edit it because there was just so much wrong with it XD. But it is here and its on time. It's not exactly how I had wanted it to turn out...but it'll do... I hope. There was a point where I contemplated putting in a spar between Deidara and Sakura just for the fun of it and as a reaction to everything that was going on around her. But I realized quickly that there would be no good place to add that in. I'm sorry : (. I'll get a spar between those two in eventually.

So, if anyone has noticed, and this chapter clears up why, every single time Sakura steps out into the sunlight she always takes a moment of reflection and to pause. Yep, that is exactly why she does it!

Sadly Sakura's parents did die o-o as was mentioned in like one sentence some time in the second chapter and it had happened as how Sakura had foretold it to happen. Not shocking really but yah...

The Sakura Tree is in bloom for a very short period of time and this is the reason that its so well liked and prized. It was a tidbit that I found while researching on Sakura's character and her past and things. Something that totally fit in at what I was trying to get at in this chapter : 3

The terrible actor comment that Itachi made, has been made before in regards to Sakura. It was supposed to have been the whole entire kick off to why this happened XD


	14. Disease

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: Thank you to those who reviewed!

* * *

Chapter 14: Disease

Sakura followed Itachi through the darkened hallway mindful of his silent steps and her own echoing ones. Biting her lip tenderly Sakura watched as Itachi disappeared with a fluid step and then she turned to enter his room. Looking around timidly Sakura winced when she felt Itachi close the door behind her; she hadn't even realized his location.

The only other source of light that drifted into the room came from a small window that lay above his bed and from the over hanging full moon. The light flooded over his room and danced shadows across the wall, although Sakura had no idea where the shadows had been casted from. "You can calm down Sakura…"

Sakura bit her lip again trying to loosen her tense muscles and slow down her erratic breathing. She told herself that it wasn't that hard being alone in the same room as the man who had massacred all of one of Konoha's strongest clans in one night. Sakura didn't understand why she had never thought of that particular detail before when she had been training with him alone in the forest; now it was just becoming much too obvious just how clueless she had been for the past three months. "It's a little bit hard to calm down after that conversation," she murmured hoping that Itachi would turn the light on soon. Something about the moonlight and Uchiha Itachi just unnerved her to absolutely no end. Her hands fiddled with anything they could reach; the hem of her shirt, the edge of her sleeve and her now shortened hair.

"It must have been hard, choosing between more than one loyalty…" Itachi whispered in the darkness his voice echoing off the walls. Sakura realized with a start that if she hadn't known that Itachi was still behind her that she would have had no idea where he was. Sakura's effort at relaxing backfired as goose bumps appeared on her neck while wondering if Itachi truly was still standing behind her. She hadn't known where the voice had come from within the dimly lit room.

"I… I guess so, but I don't know if I ever had a choice or that it was really even a choice to begin with. Definitely, at the end of that conversation it seemed as if there really was no choice to be had…"

Itachi raised his eyebrow as he watched Sakura stuttering through the words and wondered when they had given it away. He wondered if she even realized that she had just been manipulated. 'Most likely not,' he surmised as he continued to watch her fiddle with her hair.

"What you guys said, what you guys had to say, the truth that was pointed out so clearly to me… it really wasn't a choice." Sakura's voice was once again bordering on hysterical as she pulled harshly on the strands of her hair and laughed.

'Thought so…' Itachi was silent for a couple seconds, still watching her every movement and moving it into his memory, before he decided to speak, "Everyone always has a choice Sakura," he murmured effortlessly and watched as she cringed before roving her eyes around the room searching for him, "There is always a choice… sometimes it just feels inevitable because we can never take back the choices we make."

Sakura laughed again trying to control her pitch all the while, "I can't take back this choice can I?"

"Declaring your desertion of your home village is usually very permanent."

"I'm sure that you would be the one to know," Sakura replied quickly and nearly blanched at her insensitive words. Before she could apologize the light turned on and flooded all of her senses. She blinked away the dots that had invaded her vision and gazed around Itachi's room with owl like expressions. What Itachi had to say wasn't absolutely true, she wasn't deemed as a missing nin yet, she wouldn't be… not until the one year mark came along and she made her decision clear to those who would come after her. She hoped that it wouldn't hurt the others that badly. 'Do I?' Her mind was still muddled and she didn't want to think any further.

The small bedroom was as simple as she had imagined it to be. Like Sasori, Itachi had very few wall hangings except for a weapon or two that were loosely held to the wall and she greatly doubted that those were purely there for decoration. The biggest difference between the rooms' of Sasori and Itachi would have been the photos that sat on Itachi's desk rather than the puppet parts that littered Sasori's. "I didn't think you would be the type to keep such delicate memorabilia," Sakura stated as she took a step toward the elusive photos. She pondered on what the images on the delicate paper would hold.

Itachi stood before her, appearing out of nowhere, just as she was about to reach for the frames and gently clenched her wrists. Sakura froze as she yanked her wrists back and clamped down on her lip hard. "In a while…" he murmured softly as he looked out at the full moon. "As I have mentioned, it is time and I would rather not dally."

"Your story then, I'm willing to gander…"

Itachi turned to her and nodded as he once again gazed out at the full moon. "It happened on a night like tonight."

"The massacre…" 'So that's why I had had such a huge aversion to the moon and Itachi…'

Itachi nodded, "You may want to take a seat. I'm sure that my little brother has not told you of the events that had transpired that night."

Sakura patted the bed beneath her fingers and eyed Itachi as to see if he would give her the okay. There was no objection so Sakura sat down and looked at the older Uchiha and his contemplating onyx eyes. "No, I have heard very little about it other than snippets of conversations that would often come from the elders when they talked about Sasuke-kun." Sakura's voice was sharp when she mentioned the elders of Konoha.

"Ah… the elders…" Itachi looked at Sakura through his calming eyes and she continued to relax into the serious conversation that was about to take place between the two of them, "Often despicable are they not?"

"They wanted to have Naruto killed when he was just a child," Sakura sneered as her fist clenched and loosened around Itachi's sheets. She had found herself openly detesting the backstage controllers of Konoha more in the past three months she had been here than she had ever dared to while in the vicinity of her hometown.

Itachi nodded, "They have committed many more crimes than just that…"

"I am not surprised," Sakura muttered as she thought about the first man she had killed as an Akatsuki member. Her spine tingled as she remembered the river of blood that had cascaded from him on that day.

"I'm glad that I do not need to convince you of the validity of my story Sakura…"

"Ah…"

"Long ago, as you must have heard, I was part of the Anbu of Konoha."

"Many people knew; you were a very young Anbu squad captain as well if I recall correctly…"

"You may or may not be correct, simple things like that have slipped my mind over the passage of time, but that is not what is important. What is important was that as a member of the Anbu I technically should have worked under the Hokage, but the elders being as they are… used the Anbu for their own means as well."

"Did the Sandaime know?" Sakura asked with trepidation lacing her voice. She didn't need her world turning upside down for the fourth time that night.

"I am unsure, but considering what the elders had instructed me to do and knowing the tendencies and mind set of your late Hokage, I sincerely doubt that that was the case." Itachi was lying of course. Sarutobi Hiruzen had been apart of his past every bit as much as the elders had, but he gave small credit to the man. He had at least tried to fight for the Uchiha before 'democracy' had ensued and he had been over ruled. But Itachi would not tell Sakura; it would not have benefitted him in belittling a great man who was no longer alive.

"Alright, so tell me about how the stupid elders are involved in your story…"

Itachi looked at her though tired eyes, "You are aware of the birth of Konoha, am I correct? How the Uchiha were involved?" Sakura nodded with a slight bob of her head. "Well it seems that original fears never cease in the minds of the old and they feared the Uchiha would rise up once again to take over the leaf."

"One clan instilling that much fear among the hearts of all the elite?"

"Against the whole of Konoha and the elders still feared," Itachi's lips pulled up slightly, "But they had the right to fear, I presume. The Uchiha clan was the police force of the village, it would be much too easy for them to take over at any moments notice, though there would have been a little bit of a resistance."

Sakura's eyes darkened as she began to guess the sequence of events that resulted in Itachi's massacre of his own clan. Her body relaxed as her mind boiled over her thought of Konoha. Everything on this day was changing her view of the once peaceful village. "Unbelievable."

"I loved Konoha dearly and the elders knew of this, they knew of this and so they used this knowledge to their own advantage… to quell their unending fears. In the secrecy of the Hokage Tower because who would suspect that the orders to destroy a clan would be given in such a righteous location," Itachi murmured, Sakura understood now why the Akatsuki base was in the middle of a Fire Country village, "Without the Hokage present the elders ordered for me to eliminate the threat to their quaint little village." Hiruzen hadn't been present, but he had known that the order was being made.

"You alone?"

"Indeed. I was the prodigy, I was the strongest of the clan and if I wished to have someone dead, they would surely fall to my weapon."

"And so you killed them all."

"And because I loved my village and the elders had a way with their words that I had not again experienced until encountering Akasuna no Sasori, I killed them all."

"But Sasuke-kun lived."

A moment of silence as Itachi's eyebrow rose and he looked her directly in the eyes. "But my little brother lived…"

"But why would you let him live? Sasuke-kun had the same blood as you and you became the strongest, the prodigy of the clan. Leaving him alive would have been the biggest mistake in the overall accomplishment of your… the elders' goal, because if anyone were to be able to destroy the village, when he grew up, it would have been Sasuke-kun."

"Indeed."

"So you knew this when you let Sasuke-kun live." It was a statement not a question as Sakura continued to gaze into the dark eyes of the Uchiha who had devastated the life of the man she had loved with every fiber of her being.

Itachi fully turned to face her, "I am not foolish. Do not speak to me as though I am such." Sakura's eyes quivered but she did not back down as she continued to search into his eyes.

"Then for what reason would you have… let him… live…" realization dawned on Sakura as she saw the small flash in his eyes. "You loved your village…" She shot up and rushed at his desk. Her steps were heavy as her feet thunked against the hard wood floor and she flung herself against the edge of the table. He did not stop her as she pulled the two pictures from the flat wood and carried them back to her place on the bed, staring at the images all the while.

The moonlight shone down on the faded photos of Itachi posing with his brother on multiple occasions. Tears prickled at Sakura's eyes as she ran her thumb over the faded gloss and the smiling face of both Uchiha brothers. She had never thought pictures like this still existed on the plane of this Earth. Sasuke had burned all traces of his brother once he had grown old enough and had only kept what was useful to him. She set the pictures down beside her as she wiped at her tears and listened to what Itachi had to say, although at this point she already knew.

"But I loved my little brother more." Itachi resisted the urge to grin as he watched her eyes waver over the pictures. She had probably thought that those pictures had meant the world to him and while they were indeed from his past life, his memories did more justice to the things that he had done than any picture would have been able to capture.

Sakura swallowed deeply as she lifted her gaze away from Itachi and stared at the bright moon, their only source of light during this faithful night. He too stared at the reflected light of the sun as silence encompassed them. Tears were dribbling down Sakura's face but they were few and all of them dried before they could reach the tip of her chin.

The bed sheets rustled beneath Sakura as she shifted slightly from discomfort but she still did not speak. She had nothing to say at the moment. Thoughts were running through her head too quickly, too forcibly for her to reply to the older Uchiha just yet.

She remembered the first day that she had met her team. 'Kakashi-sensei had just put me through the weirdest introduction that I had ever been apart of,' Sakura reminisced; 'If it had been weird for me I could only imagine what Kakashi-sensei had thought of us at the time.'

Sasuke had been so full of contempt and so full of hatred for the man who was now sitting in front of her, Sakura gazed at Itachi who was the picture of serenity in the glow of the moonlight, that all Sasuke could have talked about during the introduction was the older Uchiha.

'Funny,' Sakura thought, 'You think about the people you hate just as much as you think about the people you love.'

Sakura concluded that from how she had talked as much about Sasuke as he had talked about Itachi in their ridiculous introduction. But she hadn't loved the boy at that time, 'Had I? I don't know anymore…'

"He loved you very much as well," she stated bluntly just allowing her thoughts to be molded into words.

"I know he did."

"Then you also know that he no longer loves you as much as the first time I had met him and has now accepted what has happened in his past?" Because Sasuke-kun was still apart of her old team and she couldn't help but want to defend her old team. She cursed her weakness.

Itachi blinked, "I had wanted him to hate me forever because that would mean that he would forever love my memory." Itachi paused as his eyes glowed for a brief moment, probably recalling a fond memory of his childhood, "But fighting him three months ago finally showed me that he has moved on, my own little brother has stopped loving me. He does not hate me so much anymore and therefore he has stopped loving me as well. I find myself… almost saddened by that revelation." He glanced at Sakura to see her reaction, because he knew that girl and knew her weaknesses. And although his words were for the most part true, his emotions regarding his little brother were also not that flowery and simple.

"But you will never stop loving him anyhow."

"Never."

"Ah…but at the same time you hate that he does not hate you."

Itachi looked into her warm green eyes that radiated an understanding he did know didn't belonged there, and had the will to pity her because he kind of liked her. "I do. I am selfish in that way. He will always be my little brother, but now I am…" Itachi paused.

"It's okay, you don't have to say it," Sakura smiled bitterly for the man in front of her, "You have a really odd way of showing your love though, I have to add."

Itachi's lips pulled up into a slight smile, "I am flawed." His eyes softened at the girl in front of him who was taking all of this information in stride and who was making an attempt to understand his unreasonable actions.

"So what is to happen now? Sasuke-kun does not love you anymore but still wishes to kill you. What can you do, what did you even intend to do to start off with? Your feelings aren't exactly easy to act on considering how convoluted and twisted they are."

"I will do what I had initially intended to do."

"And that will be?"

"I will wait until he is strong enough to kill me." His voice was resolute as his eyes steeled in the moonlight.

Sakura's eyes widened fractionally as she stared at the conviction that had appeared on the sharingan user's face. If she previously had been muddled, she was even more so now. "You WANT him to kill you?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed, "Quiet down. The rest do not know of my intentions and have only been informed of the superficial details of my past."

"Then why are you telling me now? Does it have anything to do with the fact that I knew Sasuke-kun personally? But that doesn't make any sense. Yeesh, I don't get any of you Uchiha, you're all a bunch of idiots." Her speech finally began to loosen in his presence and he was glad that she was once again comfortable with him and therefore useful to the division.

He ignored the dig at his family name and replied, "Because you have an ability that the others do not have and I request that you use that ability to help me in my final undertaking." Sakura's eyebrows furrowed as she thought about his statement, something that she had that the others did not? It couldn't have been her knack for genjutsu or her physical strength. That only left one thing… _"I see that she has medical abilities."_

Her eyes narrowed, "How would my medical ninjutsu help you get killed by Sasuke-kun?"

Itachi's eyes fluttered closed as he turned away from her and stood up. Without the use of his eyes he meandered towards the window and situated himself as though he was staring out into the bright moonlight. "You must not tell the others. Especially Kisame, he will be difficult if he is to know."

"Know what?"

"That I am dying as we speak." Sakura froze, she was shocked at what he had just said but she had to tune back into his words as he continued to speak, "I thought that when I had first formulated my plan of action for my little brother that it would be much too simple. I had all the time in the world in order to wait, just wait."

"But…"

"But I have contracted a disease and it is wearing away at me slowly but surely. Not only is it reducing my time to wait for my little brother to get stronger, strong enough to kill me, but it is also weakening my abilities as the years continue on, making me less of a challenge for him. I had wanted him to fight me and defeat me while I was still at my best, but that desire is now unobtainable. So now I only wish to stay alive long enough for him to kill me."

"We still haven't addressed why you want him to kill you," Sakura pointed out trying to wrap her head around the complex mind of the Uchiha. She didn't even try to wrap her head around the fact that the strong and unbeatable Itachi she knew and trained with, was the version that was currently dying.

Itachi's eyes fluttered open, "I want him… to reclaim the honor of the Uchiha without the bonds, the ties, that the old clan would of held him to. If he were to kill me, the man that had slaughtered all of those that he knew, he would be regarded as a hero within the village. The elders would not be able to touch him. Not only will my brother then have the life that he deserves, but he will have the life that he wants, not what my father before him wanted."

There was a pause before Sakura's eyes softened. 'Sasuke-kun would have a secure future in the village. Naruto already had a secure future in the village…' She remembered the way that Tsunade had gazed at the empty space that they all had known would hold the face of the Uzumaki. "Okay."

Itachi almost seemed surprised by her blunt reply, but he hid it well behind his eyes, "So you will help me?"

"You…you want to do what is best for Sasuke-kun. Your methods might be questionable and your tact a little bit less than desirable. But if that is what will happen to Sasuke-kun when you are gone, then I will keep you alive a little bit longer for that fate." Sakura's eyes had moistened as she stood up to put her hand on Itachi's shoulder. A sign of intimacy that she had not yet shown to the older Uchiha and she wondered if it would have been a wiser idea to pull back immediately rather than continue the contact, "As I said before, just because I have chosen to stay does not mean I do not care about my old team. And you do not need to worry, I will not tell the rest of your division your intentions."

Itachi continued to stare out of the window allowing her hand to continue resting on his shoulder, "Thank you… Sakura."

Sakura nodded and blinked slowly before pulling her hands away, "Please lay down on the bed and tell me how long you have had this disease for and how you have managed to survive for this long considering how the severity must be great." Sakura took the photos from the bed and gently set them back down on Itachi's desk. 'The severity of the disease had to be great if it is falling Uchiha Itachi…'

Itachi did as he was told, lying down on his mattress and closing his eyes. Sakura had never seen any Uchiha so vulnerable before, but she had known only two. "I have had this disease for several years now. Only two things have been keeping me alive; herbal remedies and my sheer will to live but soon it will not be enough."

Because Itachi was not a man to plead or admit to even thinking it, Sakura knew that it was how Itachi was begging her to save his life just so that it would end when he wanted it to. Sakura nodded as she gently placed her hands over his chest and banished all that she had been taught by Tsunade about ethics from her mind. 'Never save a man who wants to die…' But she would save Uchiha Itachi, because that would mean saving Sasuke-kun and possibly, it would also mean saving herself, anything that would keep her here.

Her hands began to glow green as her eyes fluttered closed letting her chakra do all of the seeing that needed to be done. The glow intensified as Sakura bit her lip, "Amazing…" she muttered.

_Disease_

Sakura flipped over the giant clay piece of the explosives master's ridiculous excuse for artwork before it had managed to explode on her and landed a hard punch on Deidara's chin. At this point she didn't know who was more insane, Sasori or Deidara for thinking something that could blast her to the other side of the forest was anything even close to art. If anything, the fact that she could rip a crater with her pinky finger was art. "Damn it!" she screamed as clay engulfed her hand and she pulled back before she lost the awfully useful appendage. However, she didn't know if she was cursing by the fact that she had nearly lost her fingers or if she had just referred to her sighting style as art.

"That was pretty close for once, yeah" Deidara grinned as he appeared behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.

The blond knew exactly how to push all her buttons and she just wanted to push his nose right back into his brain for it, 'If only he would let me!' She swung her fist again before disappearing in a scatter of cherry blossoms.

Sparring with Deidara was one of the only ways that Sakura wasn't falling into the trap of only using genjutsu. The man had trained one of his eyes to see through the sharingan, for reasons she did not want to know about, and as a bi-product he had trained it too see through most illusions. 'It is annoying,' she thought as she swung her foot up at Deidara's neck and watched as he caught it with one of his, 'bloody GRINNING hands'. Everything was making fun of her.

"Nice view," Deidara quirked against before he let go of her leg and made sure that she had to throw her boot off before the creation he had left there had a chance to ransack her leg. "An even better view, yeah."

Sakura cursed up a storm and determined that she was not only spending too much time with Sasori and Deidara, but that arguing with Kisame was destroying all of her brain cells. "No more for today!"

"So you're saying you lost, yeah?" Deidara grinned as he tilted his head back and grinned at her.

Sakura glared at him and twitched her eye, "I'm saying that fighting with a bare leg, means a distracted explosives master and a distracted explosives master means a dead Sakura."

"I wouldn't kill you."

"Really?"

"Honestly, yeah."

"All the easier for me to rip off your head then!"

Deidara took a step back as she disappeared just as quick as Itachi normally did and cursed his splendid luck that she had just picked up on the man's speed. He really liked his head… "Sakura?"

He felt a poke on the small of back and turned around to see her wide grin. "I would have won."

"No you wouldn't have, un" Deidara pouted as he crossed his arms.

Sakura shrugged, "Probably not, but enough for today. I need to go do something."

"Do something? Still this vague, yeah?"

"Yah, I'll be back by midnight so don't wait up for me or something okay?"

"What if I want a snack?"

"You had enough dinner to feed a village," Sakura pointed out, Deidara raised an eyebrow, "Make Sasori make you a sandwich or something."

"Sasori no danna making a sandwich," Deidara repeated dead panned.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "If he can make human puppets then he can make a sandwich. Now go back home, I'll be there shortly."

"The human puppet thing combined with a sandwich, that makes me hungry, yeah."

"Good, then we have no problem no do we?"

"Who says you won't run?"

Sakura eyes softened as Deidara's glistened with a grin, "It's been a month since, I told you I was staying and that's what I'm going to do." She poked him in the chest next and he would never admit that a bruise would probably develop there by the end of the night, "Now stop asking me that every single time, it gets annoying after the first two weeks."

Deidara rolled his eyes as her before nodding to her request once again. He walked away with a wave of his hand, "Don't get yourself killed by the wolves."

"Wolves?"

"Haven't you been hearing them? They all sound like they're dying."

"They do not sound like they are dying," Sakura muttered darkly.

Deidara gave her an odd stare, "Still…"

"If I can survive you I can survive dying wolves," she still sounded remarkably annoyed by that remark. Deidara had always thought that she had been a fan of rabbits, "Now shoo."

"Difference is that I let you survive," Deidara grinned.

"I should have ripped off your head while I had the chance!"

But Deidara was already out of the forest and long gone. And although Sakura had told him not to wait up, he did as he had been since she had taken on her lonely training excursions. The wolves were howling outside again tonight, their voices sounded twisted and imperfect, the sound lasting for not nearly as long as it should have. When the howling stopped Deidara counted down two hours before Sakura trudged in through the door and stared at him. "Hey." He looked at the stray leaf caught in her hair and the dirt smudged on the side of her cheek and wondered just what exactly she did alone in the forest at night. Not surprisingly, mud wrestling came first in his mind, but he was sure there would have been more than just dirt on cheek if that had been true.

"Didn't I tell you to not…?"

"Who says I was waiting for you, yeah?"

Sakura sighed and laughed before she waved at him, "Good night you idiot."

"Good night Sakura."

And so now Deidara could go to sleep.

He was in no way attached. Just like the others were in no way attached either. After all she had _only_ stayed. Only being everything.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"But really, Itachi is being forceful. What has he been teaching you in order for you to drain your chakra to the degree where you as a medical nin have allowed yourself to become ill?"

"It that Sasori's long way of saying please?"

"Oh…I would suggest not mentioning her forehead to her… ever. I have a feeling that sick or not, she is a little bit sensitive to the topic."

"Kisame-kun!"

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

I'm so sorry for updating six days late T-T I didn't mean to. But last week was reading week and I was busy . Yah, plus I got back into an old anime and its consuming more than all of my time right now. Need to find a Naruto muse... any good suggestions? Also I'm sorry for all of the grammar problems that this chapter is going to have. Again, I just need to stop fiddling and let it go. Anyways on with relevant stuff.

Itachi was so hard to write in this. I have never specifically focused on him before and it was hard! The original him was too emotional and I'm still not one hundred percent happy with him, but I've been fiddling with this chapter for long enough, so I guess he'll be okay.

The Deidara Sakura fight didn't come out as a full on fight but it had its different purposed.

The fanfiction is going for a lighter tone for like... a chapter or two... kinda I guess. Yerp...

This is a short chapter isn't it? Oh well...


	15. Fever

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: Thank you to those who reviewed!

* * *

Chapter 15: Fever

The air around her was choking her slowly as she curled up into the blankets that surrounded her shivering frame. Her breaths came out in deep pants as her lips appeared to have a blue tinge to them. Her cheeks were pale with a slightly green tint as she tossed the blanket off of her frame and rolled over. "S-Sasori?" Sakura whispered as she tried to open her mucked up eyes and look for the boy with the blazing red hair. It was both hot and cold around her and she couldn't decide if she liked the blanket or if she hated it with every single fiber of her being.

"I'm right here Sakura," his voice replied from his newly seated position beside the bed. Sasori rolled his eyes before leaning forward and grabbing the blanket from under her. He pulled the fabric over her shivering frame and tucked it back under her in the hopes that she wouldn't throw it off… again. This had been her third time and he was getting _annoyed_. He took the blanket that was draped over his arm and began to wrap that one around Sakura as well. He hoped that it would at least cease her shivering. Being sick was something he had not had to deal with for a long time. The tendency to become ill within the Akatsuki was rare.

"I feel terrible," Sakura managed to state with a wisp of laughter in her voice. She buried her chin into the soft blanket and Sasori rolled his eyes again. She curled up underneath the blanket and then stretched out again. The blue tinge on her lips gradually disappeared and Sasori thought that the decision to take the blanket had been a good one.

Sasori nodded, leaned back and dipped the cloth that had fallen off of her forehead, due to her impertinent tossing, into the water basin that sat beside him, "I am not surprised."

"You should be more surprised," Sakura pouted hopelessly and sighed from the heat once again over taking her body. In her attempt to once again over throw the blanket, Sasori quickly reached out and stopped her with a firm grip on the fabric. "I'm sorry you didn't get to go on your mission with Deidara because of me…" Her breaths now came out in wheezing whistles as Sasori gently pushed her into a prone form to place the dripping cloth on her burning forehead.

"It does not matter. Deidara is capable enough to handle the mission on his own, if anything he probably enjoys my absence." Sasori didn't know if he enjoyed being absent or if he was a chakra string away from killing the girl lying down in front of him.

Sakura tried to laugh but her throat protested the sound and instead a series of coughs emitted from her lips. "I'm sure that he's sad that you won't be around to take care of him."

Sasori's lips tugged into a smirk as he looked at the sick girl still curled up in her sheets in front of him. 'Maybe the amusement from the girl was worth staying behind.' She was still shivering slightly although Sasori had gone and stolen Deidara's blanket for her more than a couple minutes ago and it didn't seem like her complexion was improving anytime soon. 'Maybe if she would just stop acting like an insolent child…' He once again tucked the end of the blanket under her. "You should stop pushing yourself so hard when you are training with Itachi, Deidara or Kisame... mainly Itachi, you have been spending an excessive amount of time with him. I may have to speak to him about this. I do not very much have a preference for the abuse that he is dealing to the things that are mine."

Sakura smiled as her eyelids drooped, a sure sign that she was sick. Usually she would at least scowl at him, "No matter how many times I hear that come from your lips, and no matter how many times you have reminded me that it is not so, I still feel like an object. Maybe it might mean something else though, an affectionate term?" Sakura's smile grew wider and her face gained color for a moment as the words slipped between her lips. Definitely sick.

"You are delirious," Sasori stated as he frowned. Taking the now heated cloth from her forehead he once again dipped it into the cool water. "But really, Itachi is being… well Itachi. What has he been teaching you in order for you to drain your chakra to the degree where even you as a medical nin have allowed yourself to become ill?"

Sakura smiled inwardly, "Oh the random genjutsu here and there. He also allows me to spar with him, which is obviously so one sided I find myself drained just trying to keep up." Mostly lies.

"I would have thought you would have learned your lesson the first five times you arrived back from your 'spars' with Itachi drained of chakra," Sasori chose to ignore the fact that Sakura often returned from having done 'nothing', also drained of chakra. It annoyed him to no end that he had no idea what she was doing in the forest during the late nights. It annoyed him more that Deidara waited up during the nights as well. "Seems like you have things you learn quickly and things that do not quite ever register," Sakura opened on eye to see the appraising look in Sasori's eyes and the smirk that was present on his lips.

"D-don't make fun of me!" Sakura tried to yell and failed quite terribly as more coughs ripped out of her throat. She curled back up into a ball and tried to throw the blankets off of her frame. She growled slightly as Sasori preemptively held the blanket down so that she wouldn't toss it off again. "Don't pick on the sick person."

"You have pushed yourself much too far Sakura. You will not be sparring with Itachi again for at least a week." Concern? Who was concerned? Surely not Akasuna no Sasori.

"A week? That's much too long. What if I forget everything that I have spent so much time learning? What if I fall behind…?" Sakura knew that she was purposely pulling up her _issue_ for the man in front of her, but her worry didn't lie in those possibilities. 'If anything I'm worried that I'm spending too much time with Itachi… urg, it's hot…' She knew now, she knew that these people would not think any less of her and most of all she knew she would never forget all they had taught her. Her real issue was that if Itachi died in that time in which she was absent, so she was obviously over compensating, but that was beside the point. He had lived for long enough without her, but it was kind of pleasant feeling needed.

Sasori rolled his eyes from impatience as he grabbed the cloth once again to wet it, "You are as stubborn as a mule…"

"Thank you for the wonderful comparison…"

"But it is charming," This… was not how he usually cut her off… "However, I would grievously ask that you do not allow yourself to get sick again. It is annoying to take care of you. For being a medic you are an awful patient." Good recovery. Why did he even need a recovery?

"It that Sasori's long way of saying please?" Sakura managed to chuckle as she rubbed her eyes with her fists and attempted to lay her arms over the blankets. The moment she shivered even slightly though, Sasori pulled one of the blankets over her arms and watched as she automatically tucked them under the second blanket as well. He rolled his eyes again.

"Indeed," he replied. Instead of replacing the wet cool cloth on her head he reached out with his hand and tried to access her temperature. 'Mule.'

"You know, you're supposed to compare it with your own," Sakura pointed out with a weak gesture from her index finger that only ever so slightly showed through the cocoon of her warmth.

Sasori shook his head, "Pointless considering that you can cook an egg on that brow of yours at the present time."

Sakura's eyebrows shot up as she stared at him with her large green eyes. "Are you saying that my forehead is big?"

"Possibly," Sasori said with an impatient tap of his fingers on said forehead, Sakura gasped as tears sprung up to the corners of her large eyes, "Or maybe I'm saying that you have a fever. Tch, you women make even the most innocent of comments seem like an insult."

"But the difference is that my forehead IS big!"

"Well if you admit it yourself then why is it so much of a problem if that is what I had meant to say?"

"So you did mean it!"

Sasori rolled his eyes again as the tears continued to gather at the corner of her eyes, "You are delusional. Go back to sleep and regain some sense in that head of yours."

"My big head…" Sakura whimpered as her throat lashed out at her and she started to go into another fit of coughs. His hard work in keeping her cocooned was slowly becoming undone and Sasori resisted the urge to just tie strings around the blankets so that they could not shift around her.

Sasori's eyes narrowed as he pushed her down into the blankets and wrapped the two comforters around her frame quickly and neatly once again. "Whatever, your big, adorable…" he dragged on the word to emphasize the non-sense he thought their conversation contained, "forehead. Better?"

Sakura giggled and looked up at him with blurry eyes, "Sasori-sama called my forehead adorable…"

Sasori's eyes twitched but before he could reply, her light snores filled the room, "Absolutely delirious…"

He stood up calmly and grabbed the basin that sat beside him. Walking to the washroom he took a glance back at Sakura who still did not seem like she had regained any color other than green in her face. Shaking his head he poured the water down the sink, 'It is unnerving,' he thought as he glanced back at the girl who had just rolled over and smacked her nose into the wall. Sasori smirked when he noted that the blankets hadn't fallen off of her figure, 'I can not tell if she really is just sparring with Itachi or if something else is going on between the two.' Chucking Itachi out of the window was also out of the question.

Placing the basin beside the sink Sasori exited the washroom and then his own room before heading to the living area. Itachi and Kisame were sitting on the couches, Kisame was doing what he regularly did in his free time, watching the television, and Itachi was staring calmly at his large book. Sasori noted that the man was now reading and flipping through the pages at a rate that the Uchiha never before seemed to contemplate reading at. Kisame looked up as Sasori entered, "How is the bitch doing?"

"Just about as well as a sick person will do."

"Did she suffer any head trauma from falling into the door frame?" Kisame asked as he fondly recalled the events of the morning and chuckled as he threw his arm over the back of the couch and tilted his head back.

_Sakura had woken up feeling a little bit groggier than usual but not putting any meaning onto the feeling she had gone on with her routines including her daily trip to the living area to meet with the other members of her division. Other than healing eyes, trying to figure out ways to prolong a terminal illnesses, mending large gashes and creating chakra scalpels, her other areas of medical expertise were well out of practice. The four occupants of the room already knew something was wrong the moment they heard the sound of a body banging on the walls continuously before Sakura managed to stumble into the room with a cheery "Good morning!" while rubbing her arms and smiling sheepishly._

_Although all of the Akatsuki members were on high alert pertaining to her strange behavior, she had made it to the couch rather alright as she listened to the fact that Deidara and Sasori would be sent out for the day to collect on some over due loot. Throughout the discussion she had wondered why two Sasori's were suddenly debating the beauty of that which was eternal and why colors were splashing themselves on the wall. Sakura had made some attempt at complying a loan shark jab at Kisame with a staggering lack of results, which wasn't totally out of the norm but at least she usually laughed at her own jokes, before stating that she needed more sleep._

_She had just made it to the doorframe with noticeable difficulty when she had fainted and had smacked the back of her head on the hard corner. Itachi had been the one to catch her before she had also let her head meet with the equally hard floor and he had been the one who had declared her sick. Sasori had volunteered to stay as all Kisame could do was laugh and although Itachi had stated that he could take care of Sakura in order to allow Sasori to continue his mission, Sasori hadn't liked that notion very much._

Kisame grinned again while blinking slowly, "Then again you can't ever tell if she's had any head trauma, she's always a little bit off kilter."

Sasori threw him a sharp look, "She is definitely delirious."

Kisame blinked, "That sucks, guess we are just going to have to settle with take out tonight," Kisame groaned, "We need to find a better take out place."

Sasori rolled his eyes as he sat on the couch next to Itachi and turned towards the sharingan user, "I would suggest that you stop pushing her so hard. It is always troublesome when one of us gets ill, especially if it is the medic who is the only one who can do anything about the illness."

Itachi's gaze fell away from the book that was in front of him to regard Sasori evenly, "I had suggested for her to stop. She was simply more persistent, so I allowed her to continue. You must know how stubborn and thickheaded she is. However, I had also not detected any significant chakra depletion in her yesterday after we had finished training as for a consequence like this to occur."

"Ah…" Sasori nodded, he would accept that for now, annoyed as he was, Itachi was and would never need to be a liar, "I would suggest not mentioning her forehead to her… ever. I have a feeling that sick or not, she is a little bit sensitive to the topic." Sasori scoffed and tapped his fingers impatiently at the memory.

"The fact that it's a giant billboard?" Kisame laughed.

Sasori calmly turned his eyes to the sword wielder, "Indeed. She may get angry enough that she will refuse to cook you any kind of fish for a long time being." Kisame made the motion of zipping his lips and throwing away the key, but the smirk remained. Kisame tipped his head back again and replayed the memories from the morning. They served to be endless amusement for him.

"So… what exactly are you training her in?" Sasori asked Itachi calmly as his fingers tapped again.

Itachi looked up at the puppet master, "Why are you so interested?" he replied calmly.

"I didn't think anything could push her hard enough for her not to be aware of her own depleting chakra."

Itachi paused and contemplated the bare facts, "She… is very dedicated to the things she is good at."

Sasori frowned but took the answer that he had gotten from the man before him. "Kisame, when you go out and get dinner for us tonight, make sure that you pick up some stew for Sakura."

"Why am I the one that has to go get the food?"

"Because you are the one that will get hungry first and start annoying the rest of us first, so go," Itachi stated with a flick of his wrist and a stern look in his eyes.

Kisame rolled his eyes, "You didn't have to tell me. I'll get her the food that she needs it if it means she'll be up and cooking sooner." He stood up and walked out of the living room area and into the hallway. Itachi shook his head with a small smirk on his face.

Just as Kisame disappeared out of sight the two that remained heard a loud crash and giggle that definitely did not come from their sword-wielding friend. "Kisame-kun!" Sakura squealed.

Sasori and Itachi gave each other a look before they both stood up and quickly walked out into the hall. Sasori was annoyed that his blanket wrapping techniques had once again failed him and contemplated what was wrong with all of his strategies when it came to the girl with the iron fists.

The sight that beheld them upon entry to the hallway would have made any lesser beings laugh, but being as the two were Uchiha Itachi and Akasuna no Sasori, smirks could settle the deal.

Sakura was sprawled on top of Kisame, her cheek rubbing tenderly into his shoulder as her arms tried to wrap around his neck. The blankets that had accompanied her in her sleep had followed her out into the hallway; one lay back at the doorway of the bedroom and the other lay tousled around her like a soft curtain. Her cheeks no longer were pale but instead were flushed from the heat that she was feeling. However, she was still shivering greatly as she attempted to embrace the swordsman. "Bitch… what the fuck are you doing? Get off me!" Kisame growled as he tried to shove her away from him. He was shocked for a moment as he felt all of the heat radiating off her small form and understood immediately just how ill she had fallen. Amusement from the morning immediately disappeared as Kisame lessened the force of his pushing.

"Kisame-kun!" Sakura chirped again as she looked at the blue man between the eyes, "You remind me of a little fishy that I used to have when I was really, really small. I accidently killed him though, but I hated him because he died. That's why I hate you too… kind of. You're the little fishy who left me behind… always left me behind…"

Kisame gulped as he saw the tears in her large eyes, he did not know how to deal with a woman's tears and he had hoped against all hope that he would never have to deal with them, especially when he couldn't just kill the woman on the spot. He looked up to Sasori and confirmed the fact that if he were to just break her neck, the puppet master would more than just throw him out of the window. Kisame had seen Sakura cry previously of course, but usually the tears were fake or they were in pure, unadulterated anger. "Uh…" It was the best response he had in light of the situation.

"Sakura…" Itachi mumbled softly as he pulled the girl away from his teammate. Although his voice was light, the smirk was permanently etched into his features and Kisame wished that he had been able to defeat Itachi at least once. Nope, "Kisame is not your fish. You are ill, you need to get your rest."

"You… you sound like a big brother Itachi-san…" Sakura mumbled as she gripped onto Itachi's arms and shakily stood up on her two legs. He outwardly ignored her comment as he grasped her arms so that she would not take another tumble; inside his thoughts were slightly jumbled. "And Itachi-san… it's not about Sasuke-kun, when it is the two of us… it's about you, you know? You're my big brother Itachi-kun."

Itachi's eyes softened slightly at her flushed and sweating form as he maneuvered her so that Kisame would be able to stand. Sakura probably hadn't realized that she had switched his honorific to kun as well. Then again if she had been aware that she had given Kisame such an honorific she would probably have vehemently protested to the fact. Kisame pushed himself onto one of his elbows and rubbed his shoulder with the other hand. "God, my back hurts."

Sakura looked down at him with wide eyes, "I'm sorry Kisame-kun, I'll heal your back for you!"

"I don't think that is a good idea at the moment Sakura," Sasori managed to point out as a smirk still remained on his face. He stepped around the complaining sword wielder and supported Sakura as well, willing Itachi to remove his hands from what was his. Obviously his will could not daunt the great Uchiha Itachi.

Sakura nodded before turning back to Kisame, "I'm sorry Kisame-kun, you're not Mr. Fishie. I won't call you Mr. Fishie again…" Her eyes were drooping down again as the colors in the hall blurred together. She shivered violently as Sasori let go momentarily to pick up the blanket and draped it around her shoulders.

Kisame's face contorted slightly and both Sasori and Itachi threw each other strange looks as Kisame suddenly burst into a glorious laughter. Sakura squeaked and covered her ears slightly; she hadn't heard him laugh like this yet. "Seriously," Kisame panted between laughs, "Get her to bed before she loses more of her brain cells," he managed to dolefully instruct, "And you, you little bitch, will be calling me guppy again by this time tomorrow, you hear?" Kisame was still shaking with laughter as he walked down the hall, while rubbing his back, to grab his disguise for his night out in the village.

"I think your partner has lost it."

"I think her sickness may be contagious…"

"The probability is high…"

"You two boys talk with such big words," Sakura pouted as she crossed her arms and stumbled slightly. Sasori held the blanket to her shoulders so that it wouldn't fall off once again. "You all talk like you're high and mighty and so much smarter, but I know that you aren't. You all just talk funny because… because… well… you just do!"

"Sasori…"

"Indeed."

The two men carried the mumbling girl back into the bedroom as she fought minimally against their tugs and their pulls. "Go to sleep Sakura, in a little while we will get you some food," Itachi mumbled and let her arms ago. They dropped down like balls of lead and Sakura's whole entire stance seemed to get heavier.

"Thank you Itachi-san…" Sakura mumbled as she leaned into Sasori and tried to sort out the still swirling colors. Sasori maneuvered her with an impatient click of his tongue and unceremoniously threw her on the bed. Itachi walked to the doorway and picked up the second blanket and threw it at Sasori.

"I will stay here this time just to make sure she doesn't get into any more trouble. Come get me if something of dire need appears," Sasori stated as he once again situated himself beside the bed and brushed his fingers across her forehead and through her bangs. She giggled slightly at the contact. Sasori had caught the blanket flying at him and quickly tucked Sakura back into the warm sheets.

Itachi nodded not even needing to ponder the exchange. He was out in the hallway and was gently turning the doorknob to his own room when the thoughts invaded his mind.

He knew the foundations that his relationship with Sakura was built upon, he had known since the confession a month and a half ago. He was reminded of their relationship everyday when she tried to reverse the damage the disease was causing him. It had not been a shock when she had called him her older brother and had divested that his little brother was in no part, part of his own identity to her. He knew his significance to her and yet he wished it was otherwise.

Itachi shook his head and clenched his fist as he thought about his little brother and the girl who had loved him. He did not understand why the younger Uchiha had allowed what could have been his to slip away so easily. Itachi believed that he would have been smarter, "Foolish little brother…" Itachi muttered as he gazed at the pictures on his desk, the phrase still described the younger Uchiha much too well.

Swiping his hand over the table surface and looking outside to the darkening sky and the lack of moonlight Itachi lamented. He lamented that he was not the one who had offered Sakura the life that she now loved. Although the two did not know it yet or refused to acknowledge it, Itachi knew, as he knew many things, that Sakura would love Sasori because of all he now represented to her and Sasori would love her with what he was capable simply because she hadn't died by his hand. "For the better…" Itachi whispered as he exited his room and went back to the living area to continue reading his book, "I am destined to die soon anyways."

_Fever_

"Sasori-sama!" Sakura chirped as she clutched at the blankets around her, "Your hands are cool. I like the feeling."

"Is that so?" Sasori surmised as he removed his hand from her skin quickly. His eye twitched slightly at his honorific again but he chose not to say any for it would not have had any effect.

"Indeed," Sakura giggled as she tired to mock the man in front of her. He simply raised an eyebrow at her before flipping his hand over and running it gently over Sakura's forehead again. She wouldn't know why, but his hand would stay cooler than the moist cloth for much longer. He could risk it now that he was confident that she would not remember much from this experience.

Sasori closed his eyes and laid his palm over her large forehead. He listened to her sigh as the heat from her fever transferred to his cool hand, "You should sleep Sakura. I will bring you your food when Kisame returns."

Sakura's eyes fluttered as she smiled up at the man who was crouched before her. "Thank you, for everything…"

"It really is not a bother," a lie that had slipped without him knowing. It had been an annoyance to take care of her while she was sick, so why had the words come out so fluidly? "You don't have to thank me when you have returned the favor in many ways."

Sakura nodded and continued to murmur slowly and groggily, "I know, but I want to thank you personally anyways. You've given me everything that I have now Sasori-sama. I feel happy; I feel one hundred percent happy for once in a very, very long time. I know that the happiness won't last forever. It never does. I know that this amazement that I harbor in discovering that the Akatsuki isn't totally evil won't stay for much longer, but I am just happy for this one moment. I've never had a moment like this before and I want to relish in it before I have to face my old friends. So thank you…"

Sasori was unsure of how to reply so he opted for silence and the gentle brush of his fingers against her skin. Sakura smiled delightfully again as she sighed in relief, "Sleep now."

"S-Sasori-sama?"

"Just Sasori, Sakura…"

"I know this is a lot to ask of the Akatsuki, well technically this division of the Akatsuki, but during one of my training sessions I overheard that there will be a festival in the city a week from now…"

"Everywhere in the Fire Country will be having this festival, it happens every year, you do not have to give me any premise…" She still sucked at leading up to things while she was sick. Sasori couldn't help the small smirk that befell his lips.

Sakura smiled, "I know. I was just wondering if you, Deidara, Kisame and Itachi would go with me. I haven't missed the festival once since I was a child and I don't like going alone… so will you go with me? Keep the amazement alive for a little bit longer?"

Sasori looked down into her tired eyes and replied before she drifted off into sleep, "I am sure all of us are willing to agree to going."

Sakura smiled as her eyelashes fluttered. Her snores filled the room again at gentle intervals. Sasori continued to run his fingers across her heated skin as she laid in slumber. He registered the front door opening and the grumblings of one sword wielder and the hurried actions of an obnoxious artist.

The door creaked open as Deidara peaked into the room, "Is Sakura alright, yeah?" Deidara asked quietly as he glanced at the hand that was still on Sakura's forehead. His eyebrow shot up to his hairline and went up even further when he recognized his blanket wrapped around the girl's petit frame.

"She is…" Sasori answered as he kept his gaze on the flushed cheeks of the girl in front of him.

Deidara nodded with a relieved grin as Kisame appeared behind the explosives user. "You missed a while lot of funny though," Kisame snickered and smacked Deidara on the shoulder.

Deidara frowned, "That sucks… yeah."

Sasori interrupted realizing that he sounded absolutely ridiculous, "How do you guys feel about going to the festival coming up?"

"Festivals aren't my thing," Kisame replied with a slightly rise of his own eyebrow. Sasori let out an annoyed sigh knowing that whatever was running through the sword wielders mind was not something that was not appropriate for the image of the puppet master.

"Yeah, I like the fireworks though, yeah." It seemed as thought Deidara had caught on long before the sword wielder had.

"It's for Sakura…" Sasori sneered for the still sniggering company and the man only decided to snigger even more.

"Just for one night, yeah," Deidara replied quickly and glanced at Kisame from one eye. The sword wielder merely shrugged in reply and walked away from them. Deidara turned back to Sasori and nodded.

"I'll tell Itachi," Kisame stated.

Deidara looked back at Sasori, "I didn't know you were into festivals."

"I am not."

"Could have fooled me, yeah."

"It is for Sakura."

Deidara couldn't hide his smirk as he too walked away and closed the door on the puppet master and the cherry blossom.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Decent? I look decent?"

"Have you ever caught a fish before Deidara-kun?"

"Look at his hitai-ate."

"He's a Konoha nin."

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**Secret's Corner**

This was one of the funnest, if not the most ridiculous chapters to write. It was my horrible excuse to finally stick in some semblance of the pairing that I actually promised while making Kisame and Sakura bond in ways I don't think they ever intended to.

The Kisame arc almost didn't make it into the final version because well... she's crying about a fish, but when I'm sick I cry about a lot of random stuff too... yah that might just be me though.

Lightness for a while...


	16. Festivities

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: Thank you to those who reviewed and thank you for all of the favorites! I'm over 100 : 3

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Chapter 16: Festivities

Sakura stared into the mirror and at her reflection. Turning a little bit she tilted her head in fascination as the yellow dress that enveloped her form followed her movements and rustled gently against her skin. It had been a long time since she had worn something so absolutely feminine, never mind just the time that she had been spending with the Akatsuki. Smiling again Sakura reached up to her short pink locks and pulled several strands from the front and secured them at the back of her head gently with a bobby pin. She did the same with the other side of her hair. Reaching forward she took the small stick of lip chap from the counter and applied it neatly to her lips. It wasn't much, but it was something. Plus she didn't have make up; it was useless in this environment. "There," she murmured as she nodded in approval and ran her fingers through her freely flowing hair. She had made the effort to look beautiful for the first time in months… maybe even years. She had always tried for Sasuke-kun; she wasn't too sure why exactly she was trying again now.

Stepping outside of the washroom she frowned slightly as she saw that Sasori was sitting at his desk dressed in his usual civilian clothing. "You sure you don't want to wear anything… more special? I can't expect traditional, since I'm not even pulling that off but… come on…." Sakura muttered as she leaned over his shoulder to see what he was doing.

Sasori shook his head and rolled his eyes as he placed the fragments of the Sandaime Kazekage aside. Sakura backed away as he stood up. She grinned as she saw that he was wearing a black turtleneck sweater and a simple pair of beige slacks. He looked casual but warm, the total opposite to her, but god, she just wanted to look like she was going to an actual festival in a couple minutes, which she was… "I agreed to go, I am however, not one to dress up for such occasions. I am sure you understand."

"Of course I understand," however Sakura still had a sour face. She was really hoping that Sasori would have at least worn a dress shirt or something, but he still looked sexy so… "I was just hoping against all hope that at least one of you would be dressing up."

"Deidara probably will be. He looks much more elegant in that sort of clothing than I do."

Sakura giggled, "Admittance of superiority, that doesn't happen very often. Traditional?"

"You ask for too much." Sasori rolled his eyes at the girl in front of him.

"I thought as much" Sakura shrugged, "So how do I look?" Sakura asked as she twirled slightly.

Sasori raised an eyebrow, "You look decent. We should go out, the others will be waiting."

Sakura's eye twitched slightly as she watched the man walk out of his room and disappear into the hall, "Decent? I look decent?" she nearly shrieked as she raced after him. Her footwear did not allow her to go very quickly but she managed to catch up with him when he walked into the living area. He looked back at her with a smirk as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. Sakura froze as her eyes followed his movements before she shook herself out of her stupor and promptly forgot that she was going to punch him.

Inside the living area the other three men were waiting. Kisame and Itachi had forgone the formal wear as well. Kisame was dressed in a navy blue long sleeved shirt and comfortable black pants. He was wearing a cap on his head that made the blue tinge of his skin appear like a shadow. Itachi was wearing a long sleeved shirt that was black and it was paired up with grey slacks. Deidara as Sasori had predicted, was wearing much more unique clothing. "That took a shorter period of time than we thought it would," Kisame grinned, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Sakura rubbed the back of her head and stuck out her tongue, "Sorry, I still feel a little bit sluggish." Sluggish meaning that her action had messed up her hair and now she had to comb her fingers through it again.

"I told you not to train with Itachi so soon after having recovered," Sasori stated with a trace of annoyance lacing his voice. Sakura had run off into the forest the day that her fever had broken. She would have run off the day of if Itachi hadn't also been around to stop her.

Sakura stuck her tongue out at him, "I wanted to, so stop being so over protective."

"You look nice Sakura. Seems as though the dress I had chosen for you is fitting," Itachi stated with a slight smile tracing his lips.

She looked up at the older Uchiha and nodded with a blush tinting her cheeks. "Y-yes, thank you very much Itachi. Y-you didn't have to, I could have gone in civilian clothing as well." Of course she hadn't planned to. She would have bought a dress herself, but it seemed like the Uchiha had beat her to it. Why he had done it, or had guessed her size correctly, she would never know. 'Remember, he's an Uchiha… he probably… sharinganed the size or something… And Sasori's tapping his fingers again…'

"That would have been less enjoyable for you though," Itachi said knowing that it wouldn't have changed a thing and slightly delighting in Sasori's annoyed scowl, "And plus, I'm sure Deidara enjoys the company."

Sakura smiled at the explosive user as he grinned back at her, "Yeah, you look gorgeous, yeah."

"Thank you. You look very handsome as well. Different than the rest, much brighter," Sakura laughed. Deidara grinned at her as he stood up from his spot. His white dress shirt was mostly unbuttoned, showing off his chest, with a bright golden, undone tie there for the kicks. His pants were dark as well and looked much more pressed than the other three's. Sakura enjoyed the personality that Deidara had managed to stuff into such a plain set of clothes while still keeping it feeling more than just casual.

"Bright makes me come in with a bang, yeah," Deidara replied as he took her hand and winked at her. Sakura laughed. He brought it to his lips and kissed it gently, "Yeah, you look marvelous. I don't know what the others are thinking calling you 'nice', yeah." Sakura blushed and giggled before taking her hand back.

"Decent!"

Deidara blinked, "Decent?"

"Sasori called me decent!"

Deidara turned on Sasori with a raised eyebrow, "You suck, yeah."

Sasori shrugged, "It is true, should I have to use frivolous words?"

"But decent? Really, yeah?"

"We should go now," Kisame said gruffly, "Let's get this day over with."

Sakura swung her head to look at the sword wielders eyes. She wasn't too sure what she had done while she had been sick. It worried her a little bit because she always blacked out when she got ill, but it seemed as though something between her and Kisame had changed. He wasn't any nicer or gentler by any means, but he seemed a little bit more… compassionate. Sakura stuck out her tongue at that thought, 'Ew…'

Sakura nodded her head gently while retracting her tongue, the sword wielder laughing gruffly at the common mush of emotions the girl portrayed, as they walked towards the door and out into the sunny streets. Sakura stumbled over the threshold and Kisame's gruff laugh became louder. "You look stupid tripping over your own feet in those heels."

Sakura bristled. "Decent." Sakura rounded on a smirking Sasori as Kisame let out a hearty laugh.

It was not that early out anymore, around four in the evening, but the sun still splayed its warmth over the land. Sakura didn't savor the warmth on her face instead she turned to her companions who were locking up the door and grabbed Deidara's hand. The man gave her a questioning look before he grinned and tugged her down the street. Sakura laughed and stumbled along after him knowing that Sasori was having a childish fit. "She's got you played," Kisame chuckled. Itachi shook his head and smirked.

"Shut up guppy."

The street had more people than usual; all of those who lived outside village walls were now migrated into the limits to take part in the autumn festival. It was the time of the year where the leaves on the trees turned to red, the brilliant color of fire. This was why all of Fire Country celebrated this festival; this was why Sakura had to go.

Silence engulfed the five as they moved deeper into the village where the vendors and the shows would be taking place. Sakura found herself enjoying the silence, wondering if she had experienced anything like it before. 'No,' she thought, 'Naruto has been around most of the other times. If not there would be Ino, those two are never quiet.' One thing hadn't changed though. There was still a blond tugging her around.

"FISHES!" Sakura squealed suddenly making those around her jump. She laughed realizing that she had taken the four around her off guard. Things like that didn't happen very often. "Can we go catch some fish?" Sakura asked with a sparkle in her eye.

"They are inedible…" Kisame pointed out with a teasing glint to his eye, "Too small to even try cooking."

Sakura looked horrified at his suggestion as she smacked him on the arm, "Of course they aren't for cooking you giant excuse for a stomach. I want a pet fish!"

"A pet fish…" Kisame grinned all the more.

"Yep," Sakura chirped, "I never told you about my pet fish did I?"

Sasori and Itachi threw each other amused looks as Kisame shuddered slightly. As funny as it was getting hugged by a sick girl who had been so out of it that she had talked about fish, it had also been down right frightening. "Get your fish Sakura," Itachi encouraged. Kisame glared at him and Itachi grinned at the fact that he had caused his teammate to squirm. 'Oh, what fun.'

"Yeah, I wanna try too!" Deidara stated as he rolled up his sleeves. Sakura nodded happily at the man, who didn't understand why the amused smiles were being exchanged before they both headed to the booth. She had never really noticed before today, but Deidara was pretty good looking for a criminal mastermind who had an obsession with explosives.

The vendor smiled at both of them before he handed each of them five paper nets as Deidara pulled out the cash from his pocket. "Have you ever caught a fish before Deidara?" Sakura asked as she frowned at her first shredded net.

Deidara grinned at her, "Yeah, look," he snickered as he showed her the squirming fish that he had caught. "It's pretty easy, especially for those with skills like us, yeah." Sakura pouted and frowned as she turned back to her object at hand. She cried out in frustration as her net once again shredded. "I take that back," Deidara chuckled. It did not help that Deidara would cheer and goad at her with every catch that he made and when Sakura was down to her last net, she was ready to put a giant hole through the head of the man who was laughing joyously beside her.

As she reeled her fist back to smack the laughing man who was cheering at his forth catch, a shadow cast over her form. She looked up into the amused eyes of the sword wielder. "You really can't do anything but cook can you, bitch?"

"Shut the fuck up," she snarled as she glared at the man standing over her and glanced at her last net. Her nose crinkled in determination as she prepared to use her last attempt to catch the damn fish. She didn't know why having Kisame present made her want to catch the fish all the more. Before Sakura registered what had happened, the net had disappeared from her fingertips and a splash was heard.

Sakura blinked and cried out in indignation as she stared at Kisame who was sporting a small fish the same color as his skin. "Easy," he smirked as he allowed the fish to be bagged with Deidara's five catches.

Sakura stumbled straight up onto her feet and pointed an accusing finger at him, "You STOLE my net!" she growled and poked him in the chest _gently_ showing that she could do much more than cook. Break ribs to be precise.

"I caught you a fish," he replied and pushed her finger away before she lost her control and actually broke something, the smirk still plastered on his face, "Something that you could obviously not do on your own." He turned away from her and chuckled as he continued down the road where Sasori and Itachi were waiting.

"You fucking stole my net, of course I wouldn't be able to catch a fish," she yelled as she stomped after him.

"Yeah, you wouldn't be able to catch a fish anyways, yeah," Deidara laughed with the bag of fish swinging merrily in his hand.

Sakura frowned and stuck her tongue out at him as they approached Itachi and Sasori who were chuckling at the display that was taking place in front of them. Deidara grinned and raised his eyebrows; Sakura immediately retracted her tongue again and crinkled her nose at him. Deidara chuckled. Sakura turned her eyes at the two men and glared, "He stole my net!" She growled, the men continued to chuckle at her expense, "Don't laugh at me!"

Frustrated, Sakura turned around on her heel and stomped down the street full of people who were wondering what had set the beautiful girl in the yellow dress off so badly that she would leave a trail of dust in her wake.

"Ungrateful woman. I just caught her a stupid fish," Kisame sneered as they slowly went in the direction that Sakura had gone.

Itachi smiled at his partner, "Now she is sure to call you Mr. Fishie if she ever forgives you." His voice was bland, but his teasing was implicit.

Kisame turned rigid for a second before shaking his head, "Whatever, her names were never that creative."

"Yeah, and you think 'bitch' is creative," Deidara laughed as he swung his bag of fish around.

"The things are going to die if you keep doing that," Sasori pointed out calmly as he watched his partner excite himself over the memory of the frustrated pink haired girl, just as much as the woman was still leaving a trail of dust on the roads. "Have we trained her of how to take care of her own tracks?"

"I am sure she has that particular skill set somewhere," Itachi replied with a shrug.

"Yeah, found her!" Deidara grinned before Sasori pulled harshly on the man's clothing and dragged him backwards, "Oi, what was that for?" Deidara was ready to venture to another vendor to see whether or not Sakura was bad at other sensible games.

"Shut up," Kisame growled as they changed their path of direction. Deidara's eyes narrowed as he immediately recognized what had caused them to stop in such a large crowd. They continued to move so that they would be able to blend with the other people. However, all four pairs of eyes were turned towards a vendor situated close to the center of the village. There a pink haired girl stood nervous and rigid as she spoke to another man.

"Look at his hitai-ate," Sasori muttered gracefully as they continued to circle the center of the village while keeping close to the vendor.

Itachi's eyes narrowed, "He's a Konoha nin."

_Festivities_

Sakura growled as she swung her head left and right. The guys hadn't even tried to follow her, "Men!" she bellowed as she clenched her fists and roved her eyes over the vendors that surrounded her. "I can't even buy anything because they have all the freaking money."

Taking in a deep breath, Sakura let out a calm sigh before scanning the people that were roaming around her. She didn't see a brilliant streak of red anywhere in the crowd. Taking another deep breath she walked closer to the vendors and eyed the merchandise that was being sold.

During festivals like the autumn festival, countries from all over the world dribbled into the Fire Country to sell their goods. She could spot a vendor from every country lining the streets of even this tiny village and she was glad that the tradition still carried on. Walking over to one of the smaller vendors, she leaned over the display and stared at the products that they had for sale. They were small puppets charms, all from Suna, lined up in a glass case and Sakura couldn't help but think that they were nowhere as beautiful as the Sandaime Kazekage or Hiruko had been. She reached out to touch one of them.

"Sakura?"

Sakura's back went rigid as she tried to stand back up straight without showing her emotions. She was a terrible actor, that had been confirmed over and over again, but this was a moment of do or die. Sakura wasn't going to die. She knew that voice, she recognized it clearly, everything about its lazy gait was familiar to her and she shuddered and took in a deep breath as she turned around to face the man. "W-what are you doing out here… Sh-Shikamaru?"

His hands where in his pockets, his stance was centered on one leg and his eyebrow was pulled up, "I could ask you the exact same thing."

Sakura swallowed hard as she noticed the cigarette that was clutched securely in between his lips. She didn't absorb anything as her eyes began to blur ever so slightly. "Y-you're smoking," she stuttered and spurted out helplessly, "I-Ino-Pig is going to be angry at you…"

"She won't mind, she understands," Shikamaru stated as he turned his eyes away from her for only a moment. They turned back to gaze at her soon enough and traced her form, "I thought you were supposed to be on a mission."

Sakura's eyes crossed slightly as she shook her head to get back into focus. She had almost forgotten, Konoha thought that she was on a mission. "I-I am." She _had_ been.

"Didn't realize that your mission involved attending festivals," Shikamaru stated with a wave of his hand.

Sakura's eyebrow went up, "You talk as though you know what my mission is."

"Of course I do."

Sakura blinked, "You do?"

"Sakura, you're on a D-rank mission. Those are never classified. Ino nearly had a fit when Tsunade-sama said that your location couldn't be divulged. She attacked Naruto for knowing..."

"I'm on a D-rank mission..."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow in concern, "Collecting strays."

"Collecting strays…"

"Did you forget your mission details?"

"Tsunade-sama told you I was on a D-rank mission collecting strays?"

Shikamaru coughed, "Yah… several high priority strays went missing from several villages and they wanted someone from Konoha to go collect them since we are the peace makers. Tsunade-sama said that you had had time, since paper work had been boring you and so you had volunteered to…"

Sakura let a smile burst on her lips, "Of course!"

"Of course?"

"Of course I'm collecting strays," Sakura tried as hard as she could not to break, or cry, or tear the whole entire village apart. Her shishou had degraded her vehemently by telling others that she had gone out on a D-rank mission to collect a bunch of _Tora's_. "They're every where. One of my targets seems to be within the city. And what better way to blend in than attending a festival!"

Shikamaru nodded though a bit reluctantly before his eyes faded away from her. Sakura wanted to scream out and ask him if he really believed that she, Haruno Sakura, would be out collecting _cats_. Sakura reeled back slightly, 'I'm still a genin… Konoha's Haruno Sakura is still a genin…'

"You've been gone for quite a while. A lot of things have happen… in Konoha."

"I-I heard. I-I'm so sorry," Sakura whispered, just barely holding herself together as she watched the cigarette in his mouth bounce up and down with every word that he spoke. "H-how is Ino-pig doing?" Her feelings were whirling and swishing inside of her now. She didn't know what to do. Hadn't Ino wanted some action before Sakura had left nearly five months ago? Hadn't the girl got what she had asked for?

"Sh-she is a little bit worse for wear. It would have been a little bit better if you had been around… Sakura. She was already a bit hassled before from a mission that had psychologically damaged her…"

"Pig was psychologically damaged?"

"A bloody and ruthless assassination."

"Oh…"

"But that was even before… before Asuma-sensei had passed away, but she's on the verge of being hysterical now."

"I-is that so?" Sakura tried to smile at the genius that was before her, "I-I'm sorry that I haven't been around when Ino-Pig needed me the most."

Shikamaru gave her a small smile back, "It's okay. You have your duty and she still has us with her," Shikamaru even let out a light laugh, Sakura knew that Shikamaru's grief was the only thing that stopped him from being suspicious of her, "Ino actually likes it when I smoke, although she doesn't voice it out loud, so troublesome. Ino is such a troublesome girl." Shikamaru's eyes softened.

Sakura's eyes widened, "Does she? She was always so against it when Asuma-sensei…"

"That's the point, the smoke reminds her of him. Sometimes I smoke for myself, sometimes I smoke for her."

"F-for her?" Sakura murmured before her eyes widened even more, she smiled shyly up at the genius, "You two shouldn't hide it. Not like Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei tried to. It wouldn't have changed Asuma-sensei's end, I don't think… but it would have made… made the whole ordeal a little bit easier, I'm sure." It was too late by the time that Sakura had realized that she wasn't even supposed to know about the pregnancy. She had been gone… _collecting strays_. She didn't even know why she had instinctively tried to do what was best for her best friend. 'My ex-best friend. My best friend now would probably be… Deidara…' Sakura's eyes widened as she realized that Ino and Deidara looked remarkably alike. She swung her hand up to her chest and clenched at her heart.

Shikamaru shrugged and chuckled, "It's up to her, I'll do anything she wants me to do. If she wants it to be kept a secret, then I'll keep it a secret."

Sakura smiled through her pain, "Just a tip, Shikamaru. Ask her about it, she might be thinking the same thing as you… and if you never breach the topic of discussion, you will never know what the other one wants. It's the way Ino-pig has always been. Although a true gossipmonger, she does care about those close to her very, very much." Again, the words had just come out.

"Ino isn't that much of a gossip monger anymore," Shikamaru muttered with a slight smile on his lips.

Sakura's eyebrow shot up, "She isn't?"

"She's been too busy for it."

"Missions?"

"No."

"What then?"

"Training."

"Training…"

Shikamaru grinned at her, "Yah, Tsunade-sama has taken in Ino, Tenten and Hinata as her apprentices in the medical field. It's helped a lot with Ino's grief."

Sakura's blood turned into ice and roared in her ears. "What?"

"Isn't that wonderful? Tsunade-sama had said that she was never going to teach again."

"What?"

Shikamaru grinned, "I'm sure that when you get back from your mission Tsunade-sama will train you too even if it'll be troublesome for her." Sakura couldn't speak. She couldn't utter even a single word in response. Her fist clenched and she grinded her teeth together as she stared down at the floor and resisted the urge to scream. "Oi, Sakura. Are you crying? Don't cry, I'm sure that Tsunade-sama will train you too."

"And you know?" Sakura hissed.

"Know?"

"That she has taken them in?"

"Of course I know…"

"I need to get back to my mission Shikamaru."

Shikamaru blinked, "What?"

"I'm sorry, but I need to get back to my mission."

"Alright then…" Shikamaru moved to push past her.

Sakura grabbed the sleeve of his shirt halting him in his movements with her head still lowered down and her bangs covering her eyes, "H-how is Kurenai-sensei doing? How is her child?"

Shikamaru was silent for a bit, "I'm surprised that you know about the kid considering when you left the village," Sakura froze, "But its reasonable since your desk job had you so close to the Hokage and Shizune at all times. Kurenai-sensei is fine. We'll be there to help her, the remnants of Team 10 and Team 8."

"Ah," Sakura murmured and let go of his sleeve, "I'm glad…"

"Ah."

"Good-bye Shikamaru."

"Good-bye Sakura, finish your mission soon. Ino misses you. Your team misses you."

"Ah…" And with that the boy disappeared. Sakura took in a deep breath as the tears broke the dam and streamed down her face.

A hand gently appeared in her vision as a cool finger caressed away the tears. Sakura stumbled forward and clutched tightly onto the man's shirt. Sakura screamed and screamed and screamed. The warm, thick fabric muffled her sounds but Sakura couldn't stop _screaming_. The man froze. "Who was that?" Sasori asked quietly and awkwardly as not to upset her any further than she already could have been. They had heard it all… of course. Sakura continued to scream and cry until they died down into silent sobs. Her fingers clenched tightly to the shirt as the smell of sandalwood engulfed her and calmed her.

Sakura breathed in deeply and wondered why, cold and often impatient Sasori was in front of her. She thought that it would usually have been Deidara, but it was good that it wasn't. She had realized just how much he looked like Pig, 'What a weakness…' Sakura turned her head, her nose still buried into Sasori's shirt and stared at the blond haired man. He looked at her with mild fascination and a strange glow in his eyes. It almost looked like guilt, but she didn't have any idea why Deidara would be the one to feel guilty.

Sakura looked up to Sasori's face and found that she couldn't decipher his dark eyes. If they had only been several shades darker… 'Is he like Sasuke-kun?' The thought made her want to convulse and rip through everything before her. The urge to vomit built up in her stomach as she was about to move on to the other two Akatsuki members and see if that weakness had just always been there, but then his fingers touched the small of her back in an awkward, so very Sasori-like hold. Sakura stiffened and bit down on her bottom lip before she relaxed and continued to allow the tears to flow 'He's nothing like Sasuke-kun… Sasuke-kun would have pushed me away...'

"A… a friend of a friend of mine, I guess you could say," Sakura murmured as she pulled away so as not to get Sasori's shirt further soaked in her saliva and her tears. It was embarrassing and Sakura wiped at the drops. She was ugly when she cried.

However, the tears eventually ceased and Sakura smiled at the four men who flocked her sides. Deidara grinned at her and he gave a wink, gesturing to her puffy, red eyes. Deidara… didn't act like Ino and that was all that mattered.

"He is a student of the man that Hidan killed, is he not?" Itachi questioned as he looked at the pink haired girl and pondered.

She nodded with a small, weak smile on her lips, "Yah, he is. Life is moving on for him though and the rest of his team. It's moving on" 'without me,' "So it's all okay…"

"If you're sure," Kisame grumbled and crossed his arms. She was crying again and he couldn't help but cringe.

Sakura nodded and peaked at the direction Shikamaru had left, allowing for all of her negative feelings to flow out of her and to fly away with the Nara. 'No one in Konoha knows,' Sakura thought, 'Not yet. Shishou can do whatever she wants; she can do whatever the hell she wants. I'm doing what I want… what I need.' "Ah… Deidara, where are the fish?"

Deidara froze as Kisame, Sasori and Itachi looked at him with small smirks. The clear plastic bag that had once been in his possession was gone. "Yeah… oh right. I got a little bit too excited back there, yeah…" He had been the first one to reach her, but Sasori had been the one to impulsively fling him to the side. Being flung meant landing, and thinking about landing without drawing attention meant letting go of the fishes.

Sakura blinked, "YOU LOST MY FUCKING FISHY?"

_Festivities_

They were all sitting at a small round wooden table as the sun gleamed on the far horizon. The food that sat before them glistened with sauces and oils as Sakura rushed back and forth between food stalls to collect all of the prizes. She had been utterly shocked when the men had divulged the fact that they had never tried any festival food before or at least in the past several years and in a whirl wind of panic she had run to every single stall she could find. It also distracted her. It got her mind off the fact that Tsunade really had just been ashamed of her, that her last spark of hope really had died. She placed down a plate of grilled squid on the table and nodded.

"You're supposed to eat it," Sakura pointed out with a deliberate finger and a know all tone of voice, "EAT IT!" She shouted as she ran off once again.

"I think she may be over doing…" Sasori muttered and watched her go. He was worried and the feeling was making him annoyed. Sakura was also annoying him directly by running back and forth while trying to _hide_. She had never really tried to hide her all too expressive feelings from him before and although it was fruitless, it was still annoying. His fingers tapped on the wooden table while following her movements.

"I think this stuff is good," Kisame grinned as he took a bite into a piece of barbeque eel that was caramelized in a sweet but light sauce.

"Who's money did she steal?" Itachi asked as he looked up from poking his chopsticks at the squid.

Deidara sulked, "Mine…"

"Don't be such a drip. You did kill her stupid fish," Kisame grinned as he devoured the rest of the eel that was on the table.

A whack was then felt across the back of his head as he growled at the girl that was standing behind him, "Didn't anyone ever teach you how to share, you giant guppy?" Sakura scolded as she placed more food on the table. "You could have at least told me to go get more eel."

Kisame rubbed the back of his head, "Go get more eel."

Sakura scowled at him before running off again. Sasori rolled her eyes at the woman before taking a bite out of something that was lying on the table. He nodded his head in approval. "This is appetizing," he murmured as he took another piece and chewed delicately. It took a while for the full flavor to kick in, but Sasori took another bite when it did.

"I told you my cooking was no good compared to actual good food," Sakura grinned as she placed three more servings of eel on the table. She glared at Kisame, "Only two of them are for you. The last one is for the rest of us, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Kisame grinned as he pulled two of the plates closer to him.

"You should stop spoiling him Sakura," Itachi stated as he took a small piece from the next plate.

Sakura smiled brightly as she took as seat in between Deidara and Sasori, "It's okay, as long as it keeps his mouth shut and the rest of us happy, buying him good food is all right. I hope you don't mind that I spent so much money on these things."

"Don't mind at all," Kisame grinned. Sakura laughed at his almost child-like expression before taking some of the food on the table to eat as well.

"Yeah, what time are the fireworks tonight?" Deidara asked as he gazed at the girl sitting down right beside him. He was worried about her and he was pissed at his stupid partner for chucking him and making her angry at him. 'What the hell had been his problem anyways?' He knew of course, but it just bugged him that his partner was capable of more emotion than just impatience or annoyance and that his partner wasn't probably even aware that he had the capacity to feel more.

She smiled as him and swallowed before stating, "In about one hour."

"Awesome, I like fireworks, they're beautiful, yeah," Deidara grinned as he shoveled some food into his face. She wasn't back to normal, but he didn't expect that from her. Not after all of that. He swallowed.

Sakura laughed as Sasori's forehead scrunched ever so slightly, "I do not prefer fireworks all that much."

Sakura blinked, "You don't?" she asked and blinked two more times as the puppet master shook his head, "How can you not like fireworks?"

"How can you? They are just a mere explosion of light and then they are gone," Sasori scoffed.

Sakura's nose scrunched as she prepared to reply but Deidara beat her to the punch, "That is what makes them so beautiful. I told you Sakura would agree with me in the end. Beauty is fleeting and that is what makes the fireworks so absolutely stunning, yeah."

Sasori turned his head towards Sakura, "Do you think that Deidara's form of art is better than mine?"

Sakura opened her mouth and closed it trying to find the right words and regretting that she had chosen this spot to sit in. What made her think that this continuous fight was so enjoyable again? Right, they had never tried to drag her into the mess before. "I…"

"Give her a break, she is starting to look like fish," Kisame grinned. Sakura looked at him with a meaningful glare, glad that he had stood up for her and yet not liking the jab he had taken while doing so. Seemed like the eel that she had bought for the man had a greater purpose in the end.

"Thank you," Sakura mouthed reluctantly to the sword wielder. He didn't notice as he continued to devour his food.

For the next hour the five members talked and laughed over the things they had seen at the festival and all of the things that Sakura had wanted to buy but the guys had not allowed her to. The only she had ended up with in the end was a new pouch to store her weapons in that could easily be hidden beneath her cloak. She hadn't said anything about the little, kind of pretty puppets. She didn't know exactly how they would have reacted to such a thing.

She got odd stares for most of the night, none that she would have been able to decipher, but none that she had seen anyways. They had always given her the look when she had been turned away. Sakura was okay now though, she was calm and she had accepted the fact that she had a weakness. Sakura smiled at the new people in her life knowing now, that she would never be able to let go of the old.

Sakura jolted as she felt herself falling backwards and realized that she had dozed off for just a mere moment. She looked bleary eyed at the sky wishing that the fireworks would start. Sasori grabbed her shoulders when she was about to fall backwards again. "Thank you," Sakura muttered as her eyes continued to drift closed before snapping open again.

"Get some rest. I'll wake you up when the fireworks start," Sasori muttered with a slight roll of his eyes as he pulled her closer to him so that his grip would be tighter. Deidara and Kisame gave him a funny look but he just rolled his eyes at the men who then grinned. Itachi seemed unfazed as always.

Itachi was simply surprised that she hadn't fallen over sooner. He knew that she wasn't just tired physically, but mentally as well.

Sakura nodded slightly as her eyes closed and her head tilted onto Sasori's shoulder. His finger twitched. The pain faded for the moment and Sakura welcomed the numbing darkness.

"Sakura…"

Sakura blinked as her eyes opened slightly. "Ah…" she murmured as she turned to look at the sky and rubbed her eyes. She felt Sasori's finger's twitch against her arm and let out a quiet sigh. It had been happening more often lately, but she ignored it. She knew he wouldn't do it, not unless a time would come for it to be used.

The men all around her seemed not to marvel at the display other than Deidara who was announcing his glee at the fireworks and the beauty of the vivid light that was cast into the endless sky. Sakura smiled and marveled with the man as she stared at all the colors illuminating the dark night. But the colors bursting in the dark night weren't why her smile was so brilliant after such a heart-wrenching day. She didn't know why, but the other three now had a wager of the cause. Itachi had always known, but… Sasori hadn't let her go.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"I hope I haven't been doing that in my sleep for the past six months, that would be embarrassing."

"I am not. It is just from past experience that I know that you are not very good at cutting your own hair."

"That is NOT what I meant."

"Sakura… Sasori is a human puppet."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

OMG, what's happening in Konohaaaa? Shikamaru knows ^^;;

Lol Sakura doesn't realize she was actually sent to collect strays Oh well...

This was one of the funnest chapters to write. I have to admit... though I think Sakura's reaction wasn't big enough O_O don't you think so? Maybe... I personally liked it though so pft XD

Virtual cookies to ShelbyQueen25 who got most of the fish story right : D

This is excellent... it's like a giant influx of SasoSaku XD MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA... and those who question the preview : D there was no indication that she ever knew. Even in the anime/manga Chiyo had to tell her : D


	17. Human

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notice: I'M SO SORRYYYYY T-T. I tried to update on Friday but updating broke with Type 2 errors and the such so... here it is after three weeks! Thank you for those that reviewed... for those that didn't... thank you for reading XD. Please review!

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Chapter 17: Human

Sakura grinned inconspicuously as she kept her eyes tightly closed and snuggled in closer to the body that was lying beside her. She knew that if she over exaggerated any of her actions too much that it would give her away before her mission was complete, but sometimes being caught was worth what came after. Her arms squeezed tighter around the figure beside her and she buried her face into the soft, cool fabric of his shirt. "I know you are awake Sakura," Sasori muttered as his eyes drifted open. He turned his neck ever so slightly to give her a glare with his brown eyes.

Sakura giggled as she released her grip and rolled away from him, her eyes sparkling between the gunk, "You're still in bed Sasori. This is the first time I've woken up to having you still lying here." Her arm was tossed over her eyes as she continued to giggle incessantly.

"Yesterday's mission was exhausting," Sasori stated bluntly as he rolled out of their bed. Sakura smiled at the man as he walked into the washroom and closed the door with an audible click.

Sakura continued to giggle as she sprawled out on the bed. "That's something new to wake up to," Sakura muttered as she lifted her head to look at the door of the bedroom. Her fingers closed around the sheets underneath her as she dropped her head back down onto her own pillow. "I hope I haven't been doing that in my sleep for the past six months, _that _would be embarrassing."

Sakura shifted in the bed, grabbed the comforter and wrapped it around herself. Her cheeks tinged pink as she fully registered what she had just done in her morning daze and buried her face into the pillow. The scent that wafted from the sheets did not help her state of affairs. "Ugg, what was I thinking…?" she muttered as she lifted her head and slammed it back down on the pillow. The scent wafted up again and Sakura groaned in agony.

"You simply were _not_ thinking."

Sakura squeaked loudly as she sat straight up, her hair flying in all directions as she saw that Sasori had already finished his shower and was staring at her with crossed arms and an amused expression. "Y-you didn't… see that… did you?" His fingers twitched while she spoke and Sakura couldn't help but move her eyes over his twitching hands; she shuddered on impulse and flickered her eyes back to his face. Sasori's eyes had an odd look to them as Sakura's eyes were pulled back down to his fingers, which seemed to have stopped moving. Sakura blinked slightly before looking back up at Sasori's face, which was now turned slightly away from her.

"I thought you took enough abuse last night in that battle, but apparently that is not so."

Sakura turned a darker shade of scarlet as she remembered the events of the previous night. "I-I shut up! No I mean, well… thank you, for last night. I mean…"

"We look out for each other," Sasori stated calmly, his eyes flickering back up to hers for just a moment before he sat down at his table, "By the way, you look absolutely ravishing…"

Sakura blinked as she realized the state that she was probably in, before squealing again and toppling into the washroom. She closed the door with a loud bang and heard Deidara groan loudly from the other room. "Oh stop being a baby!"

"Stop being loud, yeah…" A rustle of sheets and Sakura could imagine Deidara with a pillow over his face trying to block out all of the sound.

Looking into the mirror Sakura sighed as she saw that her hair looked like a bird's nest and that she had the slightest inkling of a drool stain on her chin. "I look… ugly," Sakura scowled as she discarded her clothes and stepped into the shower, "No wonder Sasori wanted me to let go of him as soon as possible. I would have high tailed it out of there if I had been hugging myself…" Sakura paused for a moment before shaking her head at the mental image that, that brought on.

"Stop talking to yourself yeah!"

Sakura groaned loudly in retaliation and for the fact that she hadn't realized just how sore her muscles had become until the hot water poured down her back. "God, yesterday sucked…"

_Sakura was surrounded by at least twenty enemies from the strong hold that they had infiltrated and she was alone. They had all split up not five minutes before and Sasori had gone off to do his own thing. It didn't matter all that much that no one else was around, she could hear Deidara's works of art from afar and being far from that was always better than being close. _

_The outer wall had been the easiest part to get through with her enormous strength and precise control. The inner wall had also been fairly easy to by pass with its staggering lack of guards and its all too simple cement and metal composition. It was inside the compound that all of the trouble for the team had appeared. Though really, the outer walls should have been a tip off to the fact that not everything was as it seemed._

_The lord of the land had placed his weakest men on the outskirts of his property and the men only got stronger the closer they got to the main building. It was apparent that the lord prized his own life much above the lives of his subjects and that disgusted Sakura to absolutely no end. If Sasori hadn't already been self assigned to assassinate the lord himself, she would have done it gladly._

_Sakura was standing in what seemed to be the fort's herbal garden; her target destination after Sasori had briefly mentioned the workings of the lord's stronghold and in her third spat of the evening. "I suggest that you leave this place immediately," one of the men growled at her, "You are alone now. You have no chance of beating all of us." _

_Sakura blinked at the man and thought absently mindedly as the warning was issued, 'He's kind of cute… not as cute as… wait he's not even cute… well never mind, cute guy will be dead soon enough… too bad.' Sakura smirked under her hat when she saw that the man's lips had stopped moving and she touched the rim ever so slightly. Before the men in front of her could register her movements the string of seals had already been made and five of the twenty men were lost in their own fears. "Don't underestimate me…" Sakura whispered and tilted her head to watch the man writhe before her._

_"She sounds like a demon…"_

_"The Akatsuki are solely comprised of demons!"_

_"How did she manage to do that?"_

_"Attack her fools!"_

_Sakura grinned again and flicked her hair to the side as she brought her finger down on the chest of another man as he rushed her with his giant serrated blade. She skimmed his chest before he jumped back breathing from the effort and eyes wide at the chakra signature that had just barely touched him. "Don't let her get near you!" Sakura contemplated complementing the man for having enough energy to yell out an order before he dropped to the ground with a collapsed chest._

_"Too late," Sakura grinned as she appeared before the man who seemed to be 'third in command now was it?'. Using one of her hands she pushed his broad sword to the ground with a loud clang and nimbly launched off her feet to take off his head with the side of her middle finger. Blood splattered off of her glowing fingers as she flipped and turned in the air. Frowning Sakura flicked her fingers to send the blood on her hands flying off. She still hadn't quite gotten how Itachi managed to stay so clean during battles; her cloak already had bloodstains._

_Swirling around in a plethora of cherry blossoms Sakura reappeared behind another man and shattered the back of his skull with her fist. He didn't even manage to make a sound before his life was ripped from him. Sakura laughed as the remaining twelve or so men wavered in their regard of her. "Keep going!" one man shouted, he seemed to be the newly appointed fourth in command._

_Sakura smirked broadly as she turned on her toe as three men ran as her. Catching one in the back of the neck with her elbow, she buried his face into the ground and snapped his spine. The other two continued to attack her as two more joined into the battle. "It's a bad idea to have so many people within my line of vision," Sakura stated, her voice howling with the wind. _

_Seals were once again drawn as two of the men cried from pain as blood poured from their ghostly wounds. The crimson river splatter onto her cheek as the two remaining men that were fighting her stepped into the mess. Sakura smiled as the men who had touched the blood fell to the ground on their knees, screaming all the while. "I would suggest being careful around me… you could say the things I kill are cursed," Sakura murmured gently as she turned her head to regard the eight men behind her._

_Her green eyes glinted in the moon light as the men quivered from the stare. "Genjutsu expert," one of them muttered as though it hadn't been clear from the first instant. _

_Sakura's eyes flashed, she remembered a time where it had also been apparent from the start what her strength had been and how those strengths hadn't been built on. Her fists clenched tightly, 'Kakashi-sensei…' She saw silver hair and mismatched eyes before her. Sakura could hear the soldier's heart quickly beating within the confines of his chest and savored the sound of life. It would be gone much too soon._

_Not five minutes later, the only life that surrounded Sakura were the herbs that were still gently swaying in the wind. The blood on the ground barely touched the crop as a soft green glow illuminated the night. "Tch, I can't believe I let one of them get a hit on me, using too much of my chakra too…" she had been too angry. She had seen another man's eyes in place of those that were fighting her and yet at the same time, while she had been bathing the ground in blood, she had known those that she had been slaughtering had not been that man. She didn't know if she _would_ slaughter that man even if she _could_. Sakura growled as she healed the nick that had appeared on her upper left arm. "At least they didn't trample the plants."_

_Sakura sighed as she bent down to gather the many herbs at her feet. The outcrop that was grown on the lord's land contained many herbs that normally wouldn't be found in the Fire Country or even those bordering it. It seemed as though the man who had angered the Akatsuki, or those that had been willing to hire the Akatsuki, knew very much of medicine._

_As Sakura collected the herbs she gently placed them into her pouch that was sitting on her hip, the one that she had bought during the festival a little over a month before. She smiled as she reached for a plant that eased internal pain, "For Itachi…" she murmured and snapped the stem of the plant from the roots. Infusing a little bit of chakra into the leaves, Sakura placed the plant neatly into her pouch as well. It would be kept fresh until she could prepare it properly. Reaching out Sakura continued to methodically collect any herb that she knew would be useful in the coming months and stored them away, all while keeping a tab on her still depleting chakra._

_"Dammit Deidara," she heard someone shout in the distance before she registered the slight smell of smoke. Looking up she marveled at the flash of light in the sky and wondered how she hadn't been able to sense him coming that close to her before something pulled her back from the herb garden and out of the way of the clay user's explosion._

_Sakura's first reaction was to scream in pity for the rare herbs that were all now turned to ash. Her second and more realistic reaction was to be relieved that she hadn't been part of that ash. The something that had pulled her back released her and Sakura's eyes widened in realization._

_Sakura shivered as she looked up into the brown of eyes of Sasori who had a scowl etched into his face. "Paying attention, I see," he muttered with a smirk as the released chakra strings that had been bonded to her arms, torso and legs disappeared from her senses. _

_Sasori marveled at the control that he had had over the girl. It had been something he had wanted to try from the very beginning. But in knowing her inhibitions he had resisted. His fingers twitched. Now that he knew the feeling…_

_Sakura shivered at the residual feeling as she closed her herb pouch with a snap, "I have many things that I'm after…" she murmured and looked up at the man with the blazing red hair, "I'm sorry for the trouble." Sakura tried to prevent her voice from quavering._

_Sasori looked at her plainly, "No matter," he replied, "Everyone has his or her moments, you more so than others," Sakura shot to her feet and resisted the urge to punch him upside the head. Sasori smirked, "Deidara after all just got so excited that he released his stupid bombs in close proximity to your battle area."_

_"Tch, Deidara will always be Deidara," Sakura peaked over her shoulder at the destroyed outcrop wishing that she had had more time to collect all of the herbs. "Thank you though, I should not have been so distracted," Sakura smiled only slightly forcibly as she turned back to Sasori. She shivered as she remembered the feeling of the chakra strings that had wielded her like a puppet when she saw his fingers twitch._

Sakura trembled again as she turned off the water and grabbed the towel that was hanging on the hook on the door. She wrapped it around her frame and patted herself dry. "I can't believe that I had to get saved," Sakura muttered with a scrunch of her nose, "Same old self as always Haruno…" she berated herself and stepped onto the cold tile.

Looking around the rest of the washroom she blinked once before blinking again. "SHIT!"

"I left a pair of your clothes outside the door. You can change into those for the time being before grabbing something you would prefer to wear," Sasori voice stated although it was muffled through the door.

"You won't look right?"

"Do you think that I will?"

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as she slowly inched the door open. Sasori was facing the bedroom door and was tapping his foot in impatience. She reached down to the ground and grabbed the clothes that had been set out for her, "Thank you," she muttered as pink once again laced her cheeks.

Within ten minutes Sakura was fully outside of the washroom and lounging on Sasori's bed as she watched him slowly put the remnants of the Sandaime Kazekage back together. The wooden pieces glowed a bright hue of blue before they combined together and Sakura could make out the arm of the Sandaime. "Are you still tired? You did not have much sleep last night," Sasori stated absentmindedly as another two pieces were delicately fused together with the use of his chakra.

Sakura blinked as she was brought out of her trance, "Nope, I feel chipper," Sakura grinned as she flopped back onto the bed. The smell of sandalwood drifted all around her and she sighed in contentment. "Yesterday was a nice work out."

"Agreed," Sasori muttered as four pieces fused together at once. Sakura marveled at his skill as the pieces slowly began to grow larger and she could make out the head of the Sandaime. "You did good yesterday, I can see that your training with Itachi has indeed paid off."

Sakura lifted an eyebrow, "Did you doubt we were doing anything but training?" she asked. Sasori grunted and an amused smile appeared on Sakura's face. "Jealous?"

"I do not get jealous, I am merely…"

"Possessive."

Sasori looked over his shoulder and gazed into her green eyes, "To put it simply, indeed." His head remained turned as he pushed aside the parts that sat in front of him. He turned his body around, stood up from his chair and approached her on the bed. "Sakura…"

"Hm?" Sakura watched Sasori's face as it twisted into something that she didn't recognize at all. 'That's two days in a row now…'

"I apologize if my interference yesterday has made you feel inferior. Something is bothering you and I sincerely hope that it is not that," Sasori muttered with his face still wrinkled as though apologizing had taken all of his will power. Sakura had a feeling that it had and complied with the puppet master and shifted over as he sat down next to her on the bed.

Sakura shook her head as her pink hair swayed around her face. "No, you saved me yesterday. It's only understandable that you would have to interfere to do that," Sakura said with a laugh that was only slightly forced. 'It's just the _way_ you saved me that has me irked,' she thought.

"Ah," Sasori replied as he raised his hand to her cheek but didn't touch. Sakura blinked as two of his fingers twirled around her hair and gave the locks a gentle pull, "Your hair is growing out again…" Sakura blinked, "It looks horrible. It was not just because you look like a beast when you wake up."

Sakura scowled as she took the locks from Sasori's fingers and held them in front of her nose. "You're right, shoot I didn't notice before I took a shower," she let out a sigh, "I guess I could just cut it tomorrow."

Sasori shook his head, "No let me help you," he replied as he stood up and gestured for her to follow him. She stood up as well and was lead into the washroom where he pulled out a kunai that was sharpened to perfection.

"Is my hair that bad that you can't wait for another day?"

"Yes."

Sakura watched as Sasori slowly but carefully cut away the long strands of hair and disposed of them quickly so that they would not dirty her clothes. She smiled when he looked up at their reflection and saw that his lips tugged at the corners. "I didn't know that you were so good at this," Sakura complimented earnestly.

"I am not. It is just from past experience that I know that you are not very good at cutting your own hair," the smile that had been tugging at the corner of Sasori's lips now pulled into a smirk.

"Hey! My hair cutting expertise is unparallel," Sakura growled as she crossed her arms and allowed for a pout to adorn her face. Sasori merely chuckled as he continued to work away at her hair with the delicacy and brilliance of an artist.

Sakura shook her head and grinned as she saw that Sasori had not allowed a stray hair to escape his fingertips. She smiled at him luminously with shining eyes, he gazed at her and replied, "You're welcome."

He walked out of the washroom as Sakura stayed. She looked into the mirror and noticed that her complexion glowed in the artificial light. Running her hand on the back of her neck she sighed as she remembered his delicate cold fingers trace her hairline.

Turning away from the mirror she walked out of the washroom for the second time that day and gently smiled at Sasori's sleeping form. It appeared as though he had intended just to sit on the bed since his legs were still hanging off of the side. However, the rest of his body was against the mattress and his breaths came out in even intervals.

Not wanting to move the man, because she knew that delicacy was not one of her virtues, Sakura opted to take the comforter and wrap it neatly around his shoulders. She smiled at his peaceful face and pushed the bangs of his glorious red hair to the side. Sasori, rarely if ever, looked peaceful while awake. "You're obviously the one who is tired," she whispered faintly, "Sorry for waking you up this morning…" Sakura resisted the urge to touch his skin.

Sakura walked out of the bedroom with pink cheeks while closing the door silently behind her and then walked to the living area. She entered the room and took the seat that was next to Kisame who was once again staring at the screen. A scowl was marring his face. "What's wrong with you?" Sakura asked with a raise of an eyebrow and a laugh. She shook away her ridiculous thoughts and plastered a smirk on her face.

He just gave her an evil eye while turning back to the television not even gracing her with a retort. Sakura frowned and poked him in the side. In response the sword wielder merely swatted her hand away like she was a bug on the window. Sakura scowled and poked him again. Itachi replied in his place, "He is simply disgruntled by the lack of action we had yesterday night."

"What were you guys sent out to do?"

"Recon."

"Oh, lack of action indeed. That sucks Mr. Guppy, don't be grumpy," Sakura smirked as leaned back onto the sofa with her arms behind her head and a delighted sigh.

"You seem fucking happy this morning," Kisame snapped finally as he glared at her.

Sakura shrugged in nonchalance before turning to Itachi with a wide smirk, "I found something on my awesome, lord's stronghold infiltration mission yesterday that may be of interest to you Itachi."

"Is that so?" A smirk pulled on Itachi's lips as he shook his head and rested his chin on his knuckles. Kisame just hissed at her and in a fit of insanity poked her in the side.

Sakura squealed and laughed, "I'll give it to you during our training session later today."

"That would be great. Thank you Sakura."

Kisame merely growled again and turned to face the television. Sakura smiled brightly as let out another breath of happiness. Without her awareness Sakura's whole posture relaxed and molded with the couch, "Where's Sasori?" Kisame growled as he leered at her through the corner of his eyes, "He's usually everywhere you are."

"He's still sleeping, same with Deidara considering the objection he had to all the loud noises I was making," Sakura chirped happily as a smirk grew on her face.

Kisame's awful expression practically melted off of his face as a smirk appeared, "Oh, is that so? What kind of noises?"

"Oh you know banging, groaning and…"

"I suggest that you stop Sakura," Itachi sighed with another shake of his head.

"Huh?" Sakura quipped looking back and forth between the two men with a raised eyebrow, "Oh… OH!" Sakura's face turned a brilliant shade of red as she brought her fist down on Kisame's shoulder. "That is NOT what I meant."

Kisame chuckled, "Sure sounded like it was what you meant," he grinned his body relaxing as well. The tension from his lack of action was slowly easing away.

"No, NO, NO! Sasori and I…" Images… images… images, "NO," Sakura squealed as she continued to pound on Kisame's shoulder before hiding her face in her hands.

"Yeah, I would be even worse for wear if it was like that," Deidara mumbled as he stumbled through the door. Big black bags were sitting under his eyes as the unfocused orbs led him to stumble into the spot beside Itachi. Deidara flopped down onto the couch and grumbled mercilessly, "You people are too loud, it's not like I'm Sasori no danna or something, yeah. Plus that's just plain wrong."

Sakura's head shot up, "How is that wrong? Sasori's sexy…" Silence. "Oh… OH shit!" Sakura growled as she buried her face in her hands again and leaned over to hide her face in her thighs. 'What is wrong with me today? It was the hugging, wasn't it? I'm never going to wake up like that again… EVER… never… never is a really long time…'

Kisame let out a hearty laugh as Itachi chuckled at the blush that was spreading down Sakura's neck and under her neckline. "Hey you cut your hair…"

"Sasori cut it," Sakura mumbled into her legs. Kisame just laughed again as though that one small sentence meant everthing.

"A guy cutting your hair, you must think that's so hot bitch."

"Hot?"

"Yeah, so hot… doing wood, that's nasty," Deidara grumbled as he leaned back on the couch not really registering what he was saying and closing his eyes.

Sakura squealed into her hands as the blush on her neck turned a fire red, "That's… that's perverted. Stop talking like that!"

Deidara blinked still in a daze, "I'm just speaking the truth, yeah…"

Itachi raised an eyebrow, "Sakura… do you not know?"

"O-of course I know. I'm a medical nin, of course I know about m-male…" 'This… is so much worse than training with Genma…'

"That's not what he's talking about," Kisame voice boomed in laughter as he tried to gasp for air, "Although that is great tid bit of knowledge that will come into use later on. Haven't you ever wondered why Sasori's skin is so cold?"

"L-low metabolism," Sakura murmured as she peaked from between her fingers, "But I haven't really touched him all that…" 'Why haven't I touched him all that much?' Sakura thought as her eyes widened ever so slightly. She remembered that back in the day when the world had revolved around Sasuke-kun, all she could do was touch him.

_Sakura frowned as she caught up with him and clasped her hands behind her under the cloak. "You know, it's really hot out here," muttered Sakura as she pulled on the edges of the heavy attire. Sasori's hand was then placed right **beside** hers as he pulled the edges of the cloak back into place._

'It isn't that I haven't been touching him, he's the one that isn't touching me…'

_"Indeed," he replied. Instead of replacing the wet cool cloth on her head he reached out with his hand and tried to access her temperature._

_"You know, you're supposed to compare it with your own," Sakura pointed out with a weak gesture from her index finger that only ever so slightly showed through the cocoon of her warmth._

_Sasori shook his head, "Pointless considering that you can cook an egg on that brow of yours at the present time."_

'But I have noticed… but… but what…' Cool fingers, cool hands… she had noticed she just hadn't… "S-so what?"

Itachi shook his head. Deidara mumbled still bleary eyed with slurred words, "Nah, he's not human you know, well not totally human, yeah."

"W-what?"

Itachi frowned as he regarded her and gauged her reaction, "Sakura… Sasori is a human puppet. He turned himself into his own ultimate weapon."

_Human_

Sasori breathed out loudly as he heard the loud slamming of his bedroom door against the wall. The hinges creaked in protest and Sasori felt the need to congratulate the woman for not breaking the door with her monstrous strength. It felt like it had only been a few minutes since he had been able to go back to sleep without having that daft woman waking him up with her incessant cuddling, 'Knowing that daft woman, it probably had only been a few minutes…' He opened his eyes slowly to regard the haggard breathing woman that was standing in front of him and staring at him with wide, green eyes. "Sakura?" he muttered impatiently as he sat up and allowed for the blanket around his shoulders to fall to the mattress, "That wasn't there before..." he mumbled to himself in a slight divergence of concentration. He hadn't felt the need to sleep in forever and the moment that he felt that he had to sleep was the moment that he just couldn't.

"S-Sasori…"

"What is the matter?" Sasori asked as his mind cleared from his short nap and he watched Sakura approach him slowly and carefully. Sasori's eyebrow rose ever so slightly. Sakura had never been particularly delicate around him before. Delicate and Sakura was like cute and Sasori. It just didn't particularly work.

She kneeled down in front of him while he stayed sitting on the mattress. Slowly her hand rose up to his cheek and brushed it gently with her fingertips. 'Did I know all along and that was why I couldn't touch him earlier… I didn't want to confirm the fact that he's absolutely, totally out of my reach?' "I-I never noticed how cold your skin always is…" Sakura stuttered as the rough pads of her fingers traced his cheekbone, or what was supposed to be bone, "I mean I noticed when I had the fever, but that can be explained away. I didn't notice it other times either for equally stupid reasons… your skin should have felt cold then and I should have noticed. I didn't think much of it at all, but… but then again there weren't that many other times." Her knuckles were now smoothing over his cheek and she wondered how it could feel so much like and unlike human skin. 'He had been human at one point,' Sakura recalled, 'Twenty years ago, dammit…'

Sasori stood up and pulled her along with him holding tightly to her upper arms. She could feel hit cold fingers dig into her skin harshly but not enough to bruise. Sakura knew that she would be sensitive to the temperature of his skin for a while yet. He looked down into her estranged green eyes that glittered slightly as they met with his brown eyes. "Who told you?" Sasori asked quietly with a scowl on his face and watched her with all of the knowledge in the world.

"They all did. They thought I knew," she whimpered and continued to trace every contour of his being with her eyes all while wondering what was human and just exactly what wasn't about the man standing before her, "You always wear long sleeves, long pants and almost never directly touch me skin to skin. You wanted to hide it away from me. Why?"

"I was planning to tell you when I knew that you could understand," Sasori rolled his eyes ever so slightly as his grip tightened on her upper arms, "I knew that you had an aversion to… to my puppetry…"

"It tried to kill me and came the closest… ever," Sakura mumbled absentmindedly as she clutched onto the fabric of Sasori's shirt and willed her knees not to buckle.

"Indeed." Sasori couldn't quite keep the smug pride out of his voice, but Sakura didn't mind. It only meant that she was now worth something to kill. She was worth something to this man.

Sakura shook her head as her hands and lips trembled, "I just…" Her eyes shifted away from him as pink laced her cheeks, "It's just…" she bit her lip tenderly, "just too bad…" she sighed bitterly, "I just thought that…" her hands shook, "that we could…" she gazed back into his eyes, "could have…"

She didn't finish her sentence as Sasori harshly pulled her forward and pushed his cold lips against hers in such a Sasori-like manner. Sakura sighed.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"You can ask me anything, Sakura."

"Akasuna no Sasori…delicate, I've gone off my rocker."

"I don't want to become a puppet Sasori."

"Don't… don't talk about the younger Uchiha. Don't talk about him so affectionately either. I have never liked how you pranced around here calling him that…"

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**Secret's Corner**

Short... but that's a given considering how little but just how much is going on. MWAHAHAHAHAHA. Sasori's err... slightly revised characteristics will probably be explained next chapter or something


	18. Feel

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Chapter 18: Feel

Sakura gazed outside the window and into the fading light of the setting sun. She noted the fact that the red splashed across the sky in bloody rivers reminded her of red locks of hair. She had changed in her time here, that she would admit considering her love for the bloody color in all contexts, but she had to divulge that her almost ridiculous devotion to who ever captured her heart had not.

Barely any words had been spoken since their first, second, third and maybe even fourth kiss. They hadn't even moved from their spot on the bed since then. In the moments subsequent to the first, 'maybe second,' Sakura couldn't quite make herself expend the effort to remember, kiss, Sasori had pulled her onto the bed while situating her between his legs and had pressed her back to his chest. His arms had enveloped her in a tight embrace, but he had not spoken. He didn't need to speak when he gazed at her face and felt her body against his. Sasori knew, without a doubt, that Sakura was thinking about the lack of warmth that was radiating between them and just what else that wasn't there that she had thought should have been.

During that span of time, Itachi had approached the door and had peaked through its slightly opened crack. He had walked away at the sight of the spectacle, reminding himself that Sakura had something to give him and that he would find a better, more appropriate time to retrieve his gift. He wasn't the type of person that liked to stand around and dwell on things that should have been, would have been or could have been changed. He had power, but he could not change the past that would decide his fate.

Deidara had stumbled back down the hall and into his bedroom with a loud crack as he slammed his door shut while mumbling about being too tired to function and that if anyone made any more disturbing noises he would blow the place up. His heavy snores could only be heard ever so slightly through the many walls that separated all of the rooms apart from one another.

Kisame had enjoyed his time of amusement and the lessening of the tension in his muscles, but the laughing had not been enough for him. Kisame ran his tongue over his teeth as he grabbed the Samehada from the corner of his room and strapped it onto his back. He knew that if he asked somewhat politely, someone in the Akatsuki would surely give him something to kill. He left the house without a sound and disappeared into the forest.

The birds whistled into the endless sky as the insects creaked their quiet tune for the whole entire world to hear. The brilliant colors of the sunset faded away, sinking below the horizon.

Sakura's eyes glittered slightly as her hands clenched and unclenched around Sasori's wrist and she wondered why she had never noticed the differences before. But she unclenched her hands again; he didn't feel like he was made from wood although now that she paying attention, he didn't have any blood pressure. 'Or probably blood for that matter…' His skin was firm, flawless and ageless, but it wasn't anything that was far beyond a man that was at his prime age. 'How old is he anyways?' Sakura calculated in her head from her memories in Suna and let out a long sigh. Kakashi-sensei was younger. The thought irked her to no end.

Sakura tilted her head back and looked up to Sasori's chin. Sasori stared back down with her with what could have been the oddest, possibly loving, probably just possesive, annoyed stare that there was. His eyes were so human; it was understandable that she had never figured it out on her own. "Sasori…"

"You can ask me anything, Sakura." His words were clipped and sharp.

Sakura realized that it had probably taken all of his effort to wait for her to speak and she smiled. The odd ways that the Akatsuki showed their affection was strangely endearing or maybe she was looking for affection from this man like how she had longingly searched for it in the younger Uchiha years ago. She wouldn't dwell on it. 'Getting Sasori to say words of love will probably be more impossible than getting Sasuke-kun to say it.'

Sasori too had been gazing out of the window to pass the time, but his thoughts had not been of the events of the moment. He had been thinking of his past, of all of his memories and his experiences. It was a sure fire way to pass the time while the woman contemplated in her silence. He had many memories, many lives.

Before Sakura had just spoken, Sasori had been twisting his thought from months ago and had been trying to put the context of his ideas into the conversation that he knew was to come. He knew that he couldn't or didn't want to lie to her, as absurd as that was, so he had to pull every truth that he had within him and keep it on the surface. Something he had never done before.

Shifting his gaze ever so slightly to stare down at the kunoichi in his arms he noticed that she was shifting slightly from apprehension and loosened his grip ever so slightly. He hadn't wanted to scare her particularily. Sakura wasn't just a trapped animal when frightened, she was the type that would destroy his precious puppets and if given the chance, she would probably even be able to destroy him. Sasori contemplated the thought and scoffed inwardly.

Days ago he had felt nothing for her but the feelings of that as a teammate or so he believed. Different feelings, he knew, then that of the feelings that he directed towards Deidara, but that would have been because she was his charge and Deidara was a fool. He had been the one to see her potential and he had been the one that had brought her into the world where she had been nursed to her prime and had provided him with something new, something different in his unchanging, everlasting world. He nearly chuckled as once again he was presented with his many flaws, including that of possessiveness and pride.

Sakura nodded after a period of time and leaned back into his embrace as she fluttered her eyes closed, "I should have known that you weren't totally human. When I healed the Kazekage's brother they had told me Akasuna no Sasori had left Suna twenty years ago, you look eighteen, and to be human would have been impossible."

"I am sure you realized something when we had first met," Sasori murmured into her ear as she shivered from the sensation that his breath brought to her. There was no temperature; there was no warmth in the air he breathed.

'Does Sasori breathe?' Sakura laughed gently and decided not to ask, "I don't think I registered much when I first saw you. I had other things on my mind."

Sasori chuckled and smirk spread across his face, "Ah, yes. You were talking to yourself if I do so recall. You stopped doing that less than a week after you had come to live here though."

"I know," Sakura grinned as she brought her fingers up and flexed them before her face, "I know."

"There must be more things that you are pondering. Silence has been our accomplice for a while." He sounded annoyed once again.

"You wore long sleeved shirts and long pants to hide your joints, the joints that would have looked much too similar to those of Hiruko and the Sandiame Kazekage for me not to notice them. But…" Sakura murmured as she took Sasori's hand in hers and splayed his fingers over her own, "Your hands… they look so human."

"An artist never messes with his tools of the trade. I could not and would not severely alter my hands for many reasons, being that I needed both of them to do the altercations in the first place and second being that if I had made even the slightest of mistakes, my craft would be gone. There would be no second chance," Sasori flexed his hand while it was still in Sakura's grasp and she nodded in understanding, her eyes calculating and wide in wonderment.

"Is there anything else you kept? Something absolutely human because you did not dare to change it?"

"My voice box, though much tampered with compared to my hands. One does not always require words to kill so it was something that I could possibly lose. I…" Sasori paused as he searched for the right words, "I prefer to voice my thoughts; if I had lost the ability to voice my distaste I would have been very… aggravated. I would have still been just as efficient."

"I don't doubt that."

"It was a good decision considering how Orochimaru and Deidara became my partners in the Akatsuki."

"I can't imagine you any more aggravated than you usually are," Sakura laughed dryly as she closed her hand around his fingers and wrinkled her nose, "Nothing else though… is absolutely human."

"Nothing else is absolutely human."

"Then how do you feel pain then? A wooden body would normally not feel pain, unless the Sandiame Kazekage felt what it was like to be shattered," Sakura winced, shuddered and looked up into Sasori's eyes.

Sasori nodded, "The Sandiame was a human puppet, but of a different standard than myself. He had no human flesh at all, just his preexisting chakra that is the highlight of all my human puppet creations. For me to exist as an entity not to be controlled by another user I still required a living part of myself. I am not absolutely human, but I am still partly and irrevocably so." In part, Sasori seemed angry and bitter that this was an undeniable truth. Sakura thanked every possible deity that she had not fallen in love with yet another empty shell.

"So you don't feel at all? No pain, no pressure? Impossible," Sakura muttered as she ran her finger on the back of his hand.

"In actuality, I do feel. Not the way that you feel or how Itachi, Kisame and Deidara feel, but I do feel. I feel with the use of chakra. When you touch anything you release just a hint of chakra that is why you have to actively suppress it in battle. That part of me had to be kept for many reasons, but mainly for the manifestation of my chakra strings."

"How does… that feel? The chakra? Like compared to having flesh and sensors in your skin?"

"The senses are dulled, surely, but you become accustomed to it and after a while it does not matter. The difference becomes insignificant just like everything else."

Sakura looked at her fingertips and ignored his clipped and truthful words, "You said you feel with chakra, right? Not with pressure or pain?"

"This body feels no pain, but yes with pulses of chakra."

Sakura nodded again before running her fingertips over the palm of Sasori's hand. He jolted slightly at the feeling and noticed that her fingertips were glowing ever so slightly blue. He cursed himself for being so surprised at what should have been an obvious action that she would have taken. "I guess, I'm the perfect person to make you feel then," Sakura whispered as she traced his name onto his hand.

Sasori scoffed, his eyes flashed and he grabbed Sakura's hand within his own, "It seems that way."

"So your skin is still softer than wood because of the minute pieces of flesh and chakra you still harbor in your body."

"Indeed."

"It must be centered somewhere. All living chakra needs a core and more than that," Sakura whispered as she turned her head to look at him. She brushed her fingers across his forehead, "All your intelligence needs a mind."

Sasori shuddered at the almost human like feeling that was rushing through him. Something he had not experienced since he had considered himself a child of all experience. "I do have a center, where my heart and mind is kept."

Sakura smiled, "So your mind isn't kept within your head."

Sasori watched her facial expression, "No." Her lips quivered slightly.

Sakura ran her fingers down his face, over his cheeks, under his chin, around his neck and finally down to his chest. With each place that she touched he couldn't help but shiver and he cursed inwardly like there was no tomorrow. Eighteen had been a ridiculous age to stop his time at, but it had been unavoidable and he had thought that it wouldn't have mattered. "Everything lies where your heart is then," she muttered and increased her flow of chakra minutely. She felt his heart shudder at the feeling before returning back to normal. "I can even enduce something akin to a normal heart beat."

"Most people cannot tell that I'm not fully human."

"I definitely couldn't," Sakura murmured as she turned away from him and leaned back once again to watch the black sky. Birds flew in the heavens and towards the far horizon, following the sun in its ceaseless freefall.

Sasori's arms continued to engulf her tightly as she breathed in his smell, "So your scent, it is not just your shampoo then, it's actually you?" He gave a nod of reply as he rested his chin on the top of her head. "Amazing…"

"Is it really?"

"Of course, you're a puppet. You're a puppet that not only does not have a controller but also creates his own puppets. You make people into your servants and you made yourself nearly invincible. I was out of my league even before I knew this."

"I'm not invincible. The core of flesh makes me… me very mortal, very human in many ways," Sasori chucked at her sour expression and clutched her hand tighter in his own. The spluttering truth that was flowing out of his lips was annoying him to no end, but he couldn't stop just as he knew from the very beginning. 'Women…'

"The core allows you to just simply feel, Sasori. You don't even experience pain!" Sakura growled and thrashed slightly like a child before calming down, "If you ever get hurt, my medical abilities won't be able to help you. I can't fix something that isn't fleshy. I have no control over things like wood and metal."

"I do not need that kind of medical help, I can just fix myself like how I can fix the Sandiame."

"It would still make me feel better though, to know that I never have to see you shattered. Shattered like that," Sakura pointed at his work desk, "It almost makes you seem delicate in a way." Sakura laughed, "Akasuna no Sasori… delicate, I've gone off my rocker."

"Delirious, as always," Sasori murmured.

"You even get to live forever…" Sakura whispered and closed her eyes knowing that she was speaking nonsense and being hypocritical, "While I will turn old one day and fade away like every other thing out there. That thought has never really bothered me before… growing old that is. Though… it really shouldn't bother me now…"

Sasori's fingers twitched almost erratically as he pondered slightly trying to choose his words carefully and recalling the correct memory, "I know that when I first met you I had told you that I would not turn you into a puppet and that statement still stands, but if you want forever… if you wish never to have to grow old…"

Sakura gazed up at him with her green eyes and grabbed his hands tightly, stopping the twitching, "I don't want… to become a puppet Sasori. You and I both know that forever is impossible for me." All the implications of their future was there and Sasori felt for once that the future was much too soon.

He froze slightly before relaxing back into her touch as she traced her thumb over his thumb, "I figured that would be the answer."

"We both knew it would be the answer." Sakura twirled her fingers and laughed, "Hypothetically though, would you be able to deal with that? Watching me turn old and white haired while you continued to remain young forever?"

"I do not judge people on their appearances Sakura, no shinobi that is worth his name would ever judge based on appearance. Many of your opponents have learned that lesson the hard way."

"Yah, but really…" Sakura laughed, "Who would ever kiss a girl with ridiculous pink hair anyways and a larger than average forehead? A billboard brow as I've heard a certain someone state once."

"I did and I am sure there are others," Sasori's eyes flashed as he thought about the Uchiha, "And your appearance is fine Sakura."

"Decent you mean," Sakura laughed as confusion passed by on Sasori's face, "So if you could've turned me into a puppet you wouldn't have altered my appearance at all? Nothing about me?"

"No, I would have kept everything the same. Sakura, if I had turned you into a puppet I would have made you more like me in function. You would be able to control yourself, you'd be able walk, talk, think, feel but experience no pain. You would have absolute control over your movements, everything…"

He almost sounded excited at the prospect. "I still… I still don't want to be a puppet Sasori." Sakura turned to the window and saw that the sky was now turning a pitch black. She shuddered remembering the sensation of the chakra strings that had once been attached to her body and remembered how the puppet that was not lying in pieces on the desk had nearly killed her.

Sasori buried his nose into her hair, "Ah, I know. There is no convincing you, you are as stubborn as a mule."

"I'm sorry."

"Do not apologize. It is something that you should not spend any of your time dwelling on. If you wish it not to be so, then it will not be so. I will not force you to do anything that you do not want to do Sakura."

A comfortable silence engulfed the pair as Sakura turned slightly in her position so that she could face him with her whole body. He took her hand gently and kissed her knuckle lightly. She giggled from the sensation and hugged him around his torso. Sakura felt Sasori stiffen before he relaxed. He would have to get used to her, she wasn't changing her almost child like ways.

"This is happening so fast, isn't it? A month ago, a week ago, maybe even yesterday I barely felt any of this the way I do now. I mean some of it was there… from the first time I saw you," Sakura blushed as she remembered how her inner self had nearly burst from joy from the appearance of his face, "But now that I'm here, in this moment, all I can feel is this rush of emotion. The thought of not having you made me want you beyond all reason, so childish and selfish. It's so different and yet the same from how I felt about Sasuke-kun. Can you feel that emotion?"

Sasori bit a growl, "Do not… do not talk about the younger Uchiha. Do not talk about him so affectionately either. I have never liked how you pranced around here calling him that…"

"Pranced?"

"Pranced."

Sakura smiled sadly, "Don't worry. It's over now, my feelings for Sasuke-k… Sasuke. It's been over for a long time coming, it's just sad you know? To have everything you believed in since you were five be ripped away from you."

"Ah." Sakura rolled her eyes at his obvious smirk and surge of undeniable pride.

"Don't worry Sasori. I am here to stay. Konoha isn't my home anymore, it hasn't been for six months." She knew that if they saw her fight now… they wouldn't want her around. Shikamaru had confirmed it. Sakura smiled at the puppet master as she tightened her hold. "Who knew that we would've ended like this?"

Sasori chuckled, "Fraternizing with the enemy?" He wound his arms around her waist and leaned back onto the wall that was behind him, relaxing at her gentle touch.

Sakura laughed, "Not the enemy anymore."

"I could have been the enemy."

"You knew more about me after one battle than my teammates, teacher and Shishou knew about me over the span of several years."

"It is what I am good at."

"Considering your strengths, yah, I know."

"But even I could not have seen this coming," Sasori stated, "Like many, the ability to look at yourself is much harder than looking at others."

"I'm sure not many in the Akatsuki feel this way…"

Sasori shrugged, "You might be surprised."

"I still haven't learned everything that I need to know about the Akatsuki, have I?"

Sasori shook his head, "It is doubtful that you ever will. No one knows everything about the Akatsuki; it is just the way the organization works and will always work. At times I even ponder who is really even in control and what our group goal is."

"You don't know?" Sakura asked as she buried her face in his chest and breathed in his scent.

"No."

Sakura nodded as she pulled back and watched the stars appear in the night sky and light up the horizon. The birds had stopped singing but the humming of the insects had grown much louder than they had been before. Sakura closed her eyes as Sasori's presence surrounded her form. "I'm happy." She had never thought she would be happy at the fall.

"Then I am glad." His eyes were also drifting open and closed as dawn snuck up upon them.

Sakura shifted in her position and Sasori sat up slightly to accompany her. He opened his eyes and gazed directly into Sakura's green orbs. The two colors complimented tragically as Sakura leaned forward placing her hands on his chest. "C-can I try something?" she whispered as a slight pink blush rushed across her face coloring her cheeks.

"Anything that you want," Sasori replied as he brought his hands up to her hips to balance her. He knew of course, what her intentions were and it amused him to no end.

Sakura nodded and leaned forward. Their lips touched again and Sasori shuddered from the feeling. Pulling away quickly Sakura turned an even darker shade of red. "S-sorry!" she squeaked, "That was a bad idea, stupid really… I just thought that it would… but obviously it didn't… so…"

"Sakura…"

"Y-yes!"

"Try that one more time," Sasori whispered as he placed one of his hands on the back of her head and pulled her forward. Sakura stumbled over her words as she felt his lips on hers again. Shivering again she concentrated the slightest amount of chakra to her lips to the point where they didn't even glow. "Absolutely amazing… a true compliment," Sasori breathed as Sakura pulled away again.

Her gaze was dazed as she nodded her head. Her hands were still braced on his chest and one hand of his was on her hip and the other was still on the back of her head. "S-so that wasn't like the worst kiss on the face of the planet?" Sakura mumbled.

Sasori chuckled and shook his head, "No, but I prefer to initiate them. You are not very talented in that aspect."

Sakura turned a bright shade of red and closed her eyes burying her face into her hands. With the lack of a brace present she fell into Sasori's chest and continued to groan in her embarrassment. Sasori laughed out right this time as he moved the hand that was still on her head to her chin. He raised an eyebrow at her flustered face, as she managed to choke out, "A-ah…"

"I'm glad you agree," And he pulled her forward once more.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Okay, something is not right…what is…shit!"

"Don't laugh at me! Help me!"

"Please Sasori…kun?"

"Use me as your puppet. Just this once!"

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

I spent five hundred years (or at least that's how long its felt like) hating on this chapter. I don't know why I hate this chapter... (probably because Sasori started off as even more of an emotional prat that he still is) but that is beside the point. I thought hey, you know what I'm about to hate of Sakura in the anime so lets spew this chapter out already and get it over with.\

Sorry for the probably multiple spelling mistakes, I'll get back to it once I'm less annoyed at this chapter.

As you can see some if not a lot of Sasori's design has been changed... once in a while I don't even get it myself ^^;;

I have no excuses (other than that mentioned above) for how late this chapter is


	19. Puppet

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 19: Puppet

She didn't know when it had started, her thirst, desire and _need_ for blood.

When Sakura had been little, blood had been distasteful. Its metallic smell penetrated all forms of fabric and its color always dried from an almost elegant, though she never would have described it as such before, ruby to a disturbing and disgusting color of brown. It had dirtied her perfectly kept skin and it had stained her lighter locks of hair with its pungent color. She had grown accustomed to blood over time of course, but it had never been quite like this.

She hadn't desired the spilling of blood; she healed the wounds and stopped the cascades from flowing. Healing and getting rid of the blood had been her job; that had been her desire when it came to the dark fluid. But now, as she tore her fingers through another shinobi's neck, she couldn't help but wonder when her hands had stopped shaking.

Why fear the smell of blood when at every moment it flowed through her veins? Why disagree with the ugly dried color if the spilled blood was always, always flowing fresh?

Spinning around she landed a clean kick on another man that had dared to run at her, feeling his ribs crunch beneath the soles of her feet, and grabbed his arm as he began to fly away. Flesh tore as Sakura chucked the detached arm at another fighter, lodging the detached limb and bone into the man's face, and flung her fist at a third man, shoving his nose back into his skull. Sakura grinned as blood splattered across her face and dripped from between her fingers. "Too easy," she whispered as she jumped into the air and landed behind the person who had been poised to stab her from behind. She promptly broke his neck, with a little bit more force than necessary and gazed absentmindedly at her red fingers.

In the past, she really had loved her pink locks of hair. They had been so different from everyone else's and they had been the same color as her father's. No one else had pink hair that was the same light and innocent shade but now…

Sakura ran her bloodstained fingers through her hair wondering if the colors made her look just as deadly as Sasori. Sakura scoffed and shrugged and made her way to where the seal was located on the fortress wall. She would wash the blood out of her hair later, along with all of the blood she still hadn't managed to keep off of her clothes.

The fortress that the team of five had infiltrated had five points to it, like that of a star, and all five points had to be broken down at once to remove the seal that protected the fortress from raids usually comprised of more people than this. The five members of Akatsuki had been separated due to this system but the goal was always the middle of the walls. The members had discovered upon the fall of the first wall that the fortress was a continuing mess of star shaped barriers with the same sealing system at each, keeping the fighters apart for as long as possible and hopefully taking down the forces before the last.

So far the Akatsuki had broken in through three of the walls and were nearing closer to the middle. It was obvious that the lord of the fortress was becoming frantic as the walls fell due to the continually desperate actions of the soldiers that were battling them. "Weakness," Itachi had stated just as the first wall fell and he recognized the signature of the most famous Water Country tactician, "The endless amount of walls pinpoint the base at the center. The series of walls are basically just a bull's eye that we will be honing in on. We do not need to bother to search for the base."

Sakura paused as she reached the fourth wall of the fortress and delicately pressed the button that was tied around her neck, "I have arrived at my position." She winced as some of the blood on her fingers dribbled down her neck.

"Yeah, me too."

"Indeed."

"I just got here as well. Itachi?"

"Remove the seals."

Sakura tore her hand through the massive wall and through the paper seal surrounded by ink etchings and watched as the star shape crumbled all around her in a shimmery, genjustu fortified mess. She was much closer to the other four now, their chakra signatures were stronger.

A division of about five shinobi stood before her ready for the attack that she had for them. Smiling, Sakura ran a hand over her neck to wipe off the blood and tossed her hair back from her eyes before gazing acutely at the five that were in front of her. A line was drawn distinctly across her neck. Her opponents knew it to be a promise.

Every time she had broken down a wall, she had come upon a line of defense. Each line had their specialty while assaulting her and the first had been genjutsu. The second wall had been followed up with taijutsu fighters, a roaring compliment to the strategist that had come up with the system. Those who usually could deal with genjutsu were weak in taijutsu but Sakura had proven that system ineffective, there were battle scars in the earth to prove it. The ability she had just passed at the third wall had been the weapon users, "Kisame probably had a field day," Sakura murmured to herself as she absently ran her eyes over her new opponents. With a small grin she recognized that some of them were already shaking.

She wondered if it was true that Kisame had even faced any legitimate weapon users, of what she gathered from the radio she had with her; every one of the five points had a different line up going from strength of the one who removed the seal to the weakness. Kisame had dealt with the weapons users first; Deidara with the explosive tacticians, Sasori with the puppeteers and Itachi too had genjutsu. "So, what do you guys do?" Sakura asked calmly as she blinked and continued to gaze at those before her. She suspected the removal of the seal had to do with the summoning of specialized shinobi groups.

The five shinobi were faceless in their appearance, masks worn snuggly on their head and clad in a drab, unidentifiable cloaks. 'They kind of remind me of a weaker more pathetic version of Kakashi-sensei…' Most of them were still shivering and those that hadn't been before were surely shaking now. Sakura frowned slightly at the way the shinobi were acting, totally different than those that had come before her, desperate and disorganized as they had been.

Shrugging Sakura burst into a whirlwind of cherry blossoms and appeared behind the five nin. "Guess I won't get to see what you lovely guys do," Sakura grinned as she broke one of their necks, sliced through two of their spines, put her left foot through the chest of another and her right foot through the stomach of the last.

Blood poured from their wounds, splashing onto her sandals and Sakura crossed her eyes, absolutely perplexed, "Okay, even I have to say that, that was way too easy. Something isn't right… what is… shit!" Sakura convulsed slightly as she collapsed to her knees, "Their fucking blood… it just had to be the fucking blood!" she muttered. 'Just great,' Sakura thought, 'just when the red stuff was turning nice.'

The nin lying dead in front of her had transformed into other entities all together. Some of masked figures had turned into animals but one of the nin had revealed himself to be a mutilated man, the one that she had impaled in the stomach. The man grinned at her with his purple, cloudy eyes. "Perfect chakra control too, eh?" he murmured choking slightly on his own blood.

"What the fuck did you do?" Sakura growled. She found that she could move none of her body parts no matter how much she concentrated.

The nin laughed as he turned his eyes towards the dead animals, "A peculiar creation, aren't they? Absolutely harmless until you kill them, and then their spilled blood…" He tried to laugh but blood came gushing out of his wounds as the movement, "Your motor neurons are shut down one by one. The big ones go first, the small ones go after, but that's more than enough time to get others here to kill you. Brilliant isn't it, the perfect compliment to the strengths of a medical nin?"

Sakura grounded her teeth together as she heard her radio buzz to life, "I've reached the next wall," Itachi calmly stated, "It appears to be the last, that is if Hanazono still has not changed his ridiculous ways."

"Had some trouble with my guys, they're getting fun now," Kisame grinned, "But I'll be in my position in a moment."

"Yeah, stupid asses got some sort of metal work into my hand, slowed me down for a while," Deidara buzzed.

"I am unaffected," Sasori snarked.

"You bloody liar, yeah!"

"Sakura?"

Sakura growled low in her throat and gnashed her teeth together. She couldn't move to press the button or do anything but stay in the position she had fallen to for that matter. The man in front of her laughed once more before the light in his eyes vanished. "I'm going to fucking haunt you in the afterlife you son of a bitch!"

"Sakura? Where are you?" That was Itachi again and as always, he sounded undaunted.

"Oi, bitch? Someone manage to kill you already? That's pretty sad," Kisame practically giggled.

"She's still not replying, yeah," Deidara chuckled, "Sakuraaaaa, ohhh Sakuraaaaa, where are youuu?"

"I'm going to kill you when I see you Deidara," Sakura hissed.

She heard Sasori sigh, "I'm the closest, I'll go retrieve her."

"Leave a puppet to remove the seal," Itachi ordered.

"I know. I'm not insolent," Sasori snapped.

"Did someone put a dent into one of your puppets or something, yeah?"

Sakura laughed slightly at Sasori's tone of voice as she flickered her eyeballs back and forth. She tested all of her small movements and noticed how she could do almost anything that was trivial. "God, I fail…" she murmured and rolled her eyes to the sky, "Poison users suck, sorry Shizune… it's true."

"You do realize Sakura, that I too am a poison user."

"Hello Sasori, I'm glad you could join me. I suggest you don't try breathing or else you might just end up like me," Sakura chirped flinging her eyes to every corner trying to locate the man, "Oh and yes, you and your poison sucks too."

Sasori laughed as he approached her from behind and delicately touched her hair with the palm of his hand, "I do not breath and the poison has already evaporated, it was extremely volatile."

'Well that answers one question…'

"Only those who were there the moment it spilled would have been affected. It is good for other nin to come and finished you off.

"Good to know that, too bad asshole already told me. Now can you help me or not?" Sakura muttered as Sasori finally appeared in her field of vision. Sakura frowned at his amused smirk, "Don't laugh at me! Help me!"

"That is not a very mature way to ask, very impolite."

Sakura's eyes narrowed, "Please?"

"I do not know…"

"You're mean. Don't pick on me!"

"It is too much fun. I can see the delight that Kisame gets from it now. However, this is almost disappointing…"

"What's so disappointing?"

"That Hanazono found you to be the biggest threat and so forth sent this particular creation to face you.

"Well I _was_ acting extremely blood happy…"

"Brilliant man really…"

Sakura didn't know if she wanted to punch him in his beautiful face or not for all the sarcasm that was dripping in his voice, 'Not worth it… I'm a loser and he's good looking… damn…'

"…A weapon that has never been used before and he uses it on you…"

Sakura blinked, "Me? The biggest threat? If I could roll on the floor and laugh right now, I would."

"Indeed, so would I."

"Sasori!" Sakura whined, "Help me already, dammit!"

"Again, very impolite."

Sakura sighed and looked up at him with her shining green orbs, 'He won't be able to resist' she thought in a blaze if mind blank, "Please, Sasori…kun?" Desperate times really did call for ridiculous tactics.

Sasori paused for a moment before he nearly burst into laughter. Shaking his head in the palm of his hand he looked back up at the girl. "I will not be able to help you at the moment, we are on a tight schedule and I just left my only useful puppet at the other point. Now I am going to have to use myself. Stay comfortable here and I will retrieve you afterwards."

Sakura bit her lip as Sasori began to walk away. Her nose scrunched and her mouth dropped open to snap back closed. "You…" Sasori turned with a raised eyebrow as Sakura hissed, "You hate using yourself," she snapped out, "And I hate being useless. Even more than I hate that stupid feeling, that… ugg!"

"And you are attempting to iterate…?"

Sakura bit her lip again and whispered bitterly, "Use me as your puppet… Just this once!" She watched his fingers twitch in surprise, "I know you still want to, no matter how many times you have reminded me that you won't, I know you still want to try. Your fingers twitch once in a while, the movement of manipulating a puppet. You want to know what its like, right? To manipulate me? Well this is the time to try, where the only way I can move is through you."

"Sakura… are you sure?"

Sakura breathed out a sigh, "I hate…" Sakura clenched her teeth as she lowered her eyes to her blood covered hands and to her nails which had actually mattered to her at one point in her shinobi career, "I'm sure, just hurry up before Kisame or someone starts yelling."

Sasori nodded slowly and slightly hesitantly as Sakura braced herself for the feeling. The moment the first few strings touched her skin she couldn't help but reflexively convulse. Blinking she felt her whole entire body stand up without her brain function dictating the movement. She turned around and walked towards Sasori. "Are you sure?" Sasori asked again his fingers on the one hand easily pulling her along as the other hand continued to manipulate the puppet at his position that he had left in order to find her.

Sakura's eyes shone, "I'm fine. Let's get this done with as quickly as possible."

"I would have it no other way," Sasori replied as he walked her closer to himself. A smirk developed on his face as he twirled her around slightly before bringing her within arms reach.

"S-Sasori what the hell are you doing?" Sakura cried out and nearly laughed when Sasori wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her slightly on the cheek. She turned a bright red as Sasori tilted her head and then kissed her on the lips, "Y-you bloody pervert!"

Sasori merely chuckled again as he pulled away, " I've wanted to try that for the past month."

Sakura turned a bright red; "I would never have pegged you for a pervert."

Sasori just smirked at her handsomely and she knew that she had lost, "Did you know you reflexively bring chakra to your lips now?"

Sakura's neck blazed like fire as she tried to turn her head away but found that she couldn't, "J-just get on with the mission already and then manipulate me to heal myself when we are done, okay?"

"Just to heal yourself?"

"You ass, I cannot believe I even tried to ask politely!"

Sasori chuckled as they approached the fifth point. "We are ready," Sasori stated while pressing down the button sounding amused for the whole entire world to hear.

"Took you long enough, what were you doing? Better not of been something nasty with the bitch."

"Now!" Itachi stated as Sakura felt her fist reel back and hit the wall all while imaging it to be Kisame's face. She shuddered as all of the rubble fell down around her and was amazed by how natural her movements seemed. Every way that Sasori was making her react was the way that she would have reacted. If it hasn't been for the fact that her skin was crawling and that her chakra system was screaming for control, she would have thought that she was in full control of herself. The thought terrified her to no end.

"Indeed, it seems as though Itachi was right in deducing that this was the last wall." Sakura silently agreed with Sasori not finding herself being able to speak as her chakra raged beneath her skin.

Sasori kept an eye on her as he saw her eyes flicker down to her hands again. He tilted her head and flexed her fingers accordingly and although he could see the amazement and horror pass across her face, he knew that something was wrong, "That's why you watch me so much isn't it?"

"Hm?" Sasori questioned as he hissed in annoyance. He moved her again by the sole direction of her eyes and although she seemed to still be impressed, he was still unsatisfied.

"So that you could copy my exactly movements if the time were ever to come where I wanted to become a puppet."

Sasori was silent for a moment, "Yes and no."

Her cheeks tinged pink as she smiled, "Okay… let's go shed some blood."

"Indeed."

_Puppet_

The inner compound had had the most nin and the strongest as well. Sakura could see the other four Akatsuki members as they fought their own share of enemies. It was much too simple to spot Deidara, Kisame always made some sort of a ruckus and she had trained herself to follow Itachi's movements lest he 'accidently' kill her during their spar sessions. Accidently being probably not accidental at all, that man tolerated no form of weakness ever. Her eyes could wander everywhere as Sasori controlled her movements, the only thing that she had to worry about was when to release her energy to tear cracks into the floor and when to cut vital areas in half.

The shinobi in the inner compound were also diverse, they were no longer specialized groups and it seemed as though they rarely attained any action considering the tactics of the five walls, five point star seals and the protection of the outer teams. They seemed to enjoy the blood shed just as much as she did. "Sadists, enjoying the blood of their own comrades. Even I'm not that twisted," Sakura muttered as she elbowed someone's spine promptly breaking it in half and grinning as blood splashed to the ground all around her as she twirled away.

"Again, most of them are probably for hire," Sasori replied as he relaxed her fighting stance and walked her away from the mess of dead bodies and blood. "Deidara is going in now to take care of the man we are after. We should head back to our shelter to get you healed."

"I'm not deaf or something Sasori," Sakura hissed out in frustration as Deidara continued to goad and cheer over the radio about being the man to take down the lord.

"Did she get hurt or something?" Kisame asked as he walked over with the Samehada resting on his shoulder. Blood was dripping from a scar on his face but he seemed to take no notice. "You look undamaged, well except for your hair, what the hell is up with that."

Sakura stopped Sasori, as he was about to reply, with words of her own, "Nothing is wrong with me I just got a little bit distracted at the fifth wall and couldn't really press my button, see? And the hair is awesome, don't ever talk about the hair," Sakura gave Sasori a pointed look as he rolled his eyes and moved her about as though she had full operation of her own body. He was sorely tempted to just make a fool of her as he fingers dug through the matted tresses to distangle the locks from the crusted brown blood.

"Right…" Kisame said with a raise of his eyebrow. Itachi scoffed as he came upon them and Sakura gave him a pointed look as well. His still activated sharingan could probably see through the whole ruse. Kisame still didn't look absolutely convinced though.

'Kisame would never ever shut up if he knew,' Sakura thought as she plastered the biggest smile on face that she could muster. Her other muscles were starting to freeze as well. "So, back to the lodge? I need a shower."

"No joke, you look shitty as a brunette."

"What did I say about talking about the hair, guppy?"

"Yes," Itachi replied as he grazed past them, "Deidara will catch up after he has had his fun."

"Lucky bastard," Kisame hissed.

"And I owe him a hole in his face," Sakura muttered.

"He got there first," Itachi replied.

"Still."

"You two sound like the same person," Sasori chuckled knowing that Sakura couldn't do a thing to even attempt to attack him.

"Disgusting," Kisame snapped.

"Who would want to smell like him?"

"Real mature bitch."

"Oh and you're one to talk."

Itachi walked beside Sasori as the two looked at each other and then at Sakura who was promptly waving her arms at Kisame at Sasori's direct command. Kisame still looked slightly perplexed with an oddly pucked face.

"Pride," Itachi and Sasori both muttered before chuckling and continuing on their way back to the lodge that they had rented out as their accommodation for their short stay in the country of water.

"Did you guys say something?" Sakura blurted out sarcastically.

"You are being insolent," Sasori replied.

"Insolent! You bastard, I'm gonna…" Sasori had managed to achieve his goal. She was now paying more attention to him than Kisame. He turned to Itachi.

"You did it too perfectly."

"What do you mean?"

"Sakura splatters blood all over herself when she fights," Itachi stated derisively before he walked ahead to match pace with Kisame. Sasori frowned as he noted that there was no fresh blood on her figure.

"The Mizukage won't be too happy about the damage," Kisame laughed. When no one replied to his comment, mainly because Sakura was still cursing Sasori, he kept on talking, "No matter, the old lady deserves it."

_Puppet_

Sasori had manipulated her so that she was now lying prone on the bed beside a giant tub of water. "Tell me how to manipulate your hands for the poison extraction."

"Hands in water and then hands over chest," Sakura replied as she felt her hands move above her. "When I have the chakra concentrated in my hands and the water in a calm ball, I want you to touch them down to my chest and then up and down several times until you literally see a build up of something that… well isn't water."

"Understood." Sasori watched as Sakura's hands glowed an elegant green as she went through the motions of removing poison. "This was how you saved the Kazekage's brother I presume."

"Resentful over that?" Sakura smiled as she felt her own body be rid of the foreign substance and the feeling return back to her muscles. She could almost make the movements by herself now.

"Impressed more like."

"I will still need to make an antidote," Sakura stated and then held her breath as she felt the pull of the poison against her chest. Sasori kept her body down as her chakra continued to pull before she felt a popping sensation and the pressure disappeared. Droplets of sweat appeared on her brow as her breathing sped up and she wiggled her toes.

"You brought your holder with you?"

"I bring it everywhere with me."

"Good."

"You can dissipate the strings now Sasori. I can move on my own," Sakura whispered and shuddered as she felt the energy leave her skin and his cool hand swipe across her brow. Her chakra cooled and calmed beneath her skin and she sighed in contentment. She brought her hands back to her chest to extract more of the poison that was still flowing in her veins. She was at the bare minimum of movement but it was enough to complete what she needed to complete without the use of invading chakra.

"How are you feeling?" Sasori questioned with an irritated sigh as he sat beside her and held her down by the shoulder as she shuddered and pulled the dark substance out of her chest.

Sakura sighed as she sat up and deposited the poison in the bowl that was sitting right beside the bed she was lying on. "Better than I thought I would feel considering everything."

"The strings and the poison."

Sakura smiled, "Yah, both of them. I'm sorry Sasori, but that experience just hardened my resolve. I don't want to ever feel like that again."

Sasori frowned, "Ah, it was enjoyable at first. But it is nowhere near as amusing as watching you go through the motions yourself. You are too spontaneous to truly replicate, that is why Kisame was giving you the strange look. I did not make you react properly." Sasori was more frustrated by the fact that Itachi had spotted his most obvious mistake in manipulating her. He was a master, something like that shouldn't have passed him by. She had even mentioned herself about her blood frenzy.

Sakura laughed weakly, "That's good. We're on the same page!"

Sasori nodded as Sakura stood up and walked over to where Sasori had thrown her pouch onto the ground. She looked up as the door opened and Deidara entered with a grin plastered on his face, "That, was amazing yeah!"

"Lucky bastard," Sakura replied with a laugh and an elbow in Deidara's stomach as she proceeded to analyze the poison and sift through her pouch of herbs before closing it with a snap.

Deidara groaned as he felt one of his ribs shudder, "You always try to push the limit don't you, yeah?"

"It doesn't hurt any other way," Sakura replied and stuck out her tongue.

"So where were you Sakura, yeah?" Deidara grinned.

Sakura head snapped to glare at him. Within moments she had Deidara pinned to a wall and was pressing on his ribs, "Where do you think I was Deidara?" Sakura asked sweetly.

Deidara wheezed, cringed, chuckled and threw Sakura off him all at the same time. Sasori caught her fluidly and placed her on the floor as Sakura scowled and laughed some more. "I get it, I get it. Thanks for the bruises."

"You're welcome," Sakura chirped just as sweetly as before.

Deidara nodded and flopped down on his bed on the other side of the lodge room. There had only been two bedrooms, the other one was shared by Kisame and Itachi. "So glad that I can fly, yeah," Deidara muttered happily before snores suddenly shook the walls.

"We… are in for a restless night," Sasori said with a hint of distaste.

"I need to go out for a little while anyways."

"What for?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and tapped her pouch on the nearest hardest surface, "Herbs of course."

"Do you require a companion?"

"Pft, what do you know about herbs?"

"I concoct poisons."

"Antidotes?"

Sasori hissed in irritation as Sakura grinned at him with a smirk that looked eerily like Kisame's. "Fine, leave."

"Will do."

Sasori narrowed his eyes and nodded as she exited the room. He sat upon the bed with his arms and legs crossed as he heard the girl pitter patter out of the lodge and into the surrounding forest. When he could no longer hear her, he turned his attention out to the forest where he could hear the howling of what seemed like wolves roar into the night sky.

Deidara's incessant snoring was always a backdrop sound to everything that was going on. Sasori sat and he listened to the sounds of the forest, hoping, peculiarly enough, that he would be able to hear her as she trampled.

Sasori waited and waited as the sounds of the night surrounded his dulled senses and the howling of wolves intensified as the moon rose. His skin prickled and his fingers twitched in anticipation. It took him a whole hour to realize that he was actually patiently, patiently for him, waiting for someone to return to him.

At that moment he had considered the thought of going to find the kunoichi and to just kill her. The thought disturbed him more than he wished it would.

It was probably about two hours later when the wolves had stopped singing to the moon and Sakura creaked the door open with sweat dripping down her face and much less chakra than she had left with. Sasori cracked open one eye and tapped his fingers. "Welcome back."

"Still not asleep yet?" Sakura murmured as she took off her cloak and dropped it down on the ground, "Did you even move?" Sakura pulled the herbs out of her pouch and began crushing them in a tiny motar that she kept within her pouch; Sasori noted that there were no more herbs there than there had been before she had left. It irritated him to no end.

Sasori tapped his fingers impatiently, 'The ridiculous things I do for this woman…'

"Tomorrow we'll be back home," Sakura replied as she manipulated the antidote into her blood stream carefully and closed off the cut that she had created. Sasori smirked at her as she grinned back at him. "I'm tired Sasori." It was obvious from the way that her legs were shaking and how she looked like she was about to collapse at any moment.

"You must be. Get some rest," Sasori stated as he pulled her towards the bed and down onto the mattress. He would not question her for tonight. It would be more trouble than it was worth, especially with Deidara so close by. Sakura giggled as she rolled in beside the man and wiggled around slightly. "Resting means the lack of movement, Sakura."

"Just getting comfortable," Sakura replied as she pressed her face against his chest and took in a deep breath, "Comfortable now."

"Good. Now rest."

"You too Sasori…kun," Sakura grinned, wiggled a little bit more and closed her eyes. Sasori shook his head at her and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist as he looked out of the window at the drifting snow of the Water Country. She was out before he had the chance to look back down at her. Her pink hair swayed around her face and clumped around the crown of her head. Sasori made a note to himself to make sure that she would take a shower in the morning and for him to get a new cloak for her.

Sasori breathed in her scent and looked out of the window once again. The snowflakes plastered onto the window and glowed in the moonlight. The wolves didn't come back for the rest of the night.

The season was winter in Water Country; soon enough all of the comfort and the security would melt away with the snow. Five more months until the year…

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Well you're a freaking prodigy dammit."

"Deactivate it Itachi. I need to save some chakra to heal you…"

"No, not that much time, but you do happen to stare at him a lot."

"Do not tell me you've been healing little animals this whole time."

"I first saw this concept nearly three years ago, maybe more... during my chuunin exams."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

I have made it over the story hump and am now loving where this is going.

Developing this chapter was all about showing all the changes that are happening to everyone, something that was obvious before and is now more or less explicitly stated. Sakura's fear of lack of control though can be deduced pretty easily.

The next chapter is going to have quite a few answers to small motifs that have been occurring in the story : D

Thank you for your endless support through the hump chapters : 3


	20. Healing

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 20: Healing

"Too slow," Itachi stated all too calmly as he blasted Sakura back and into the nearest tree with what was probably just the tip of his finger. Sakura growled, baring her teeth, as she quickly picked herself off the ground and teleported to the other side of the field in a whirlwind of cherry blossoms.

Once again she went through the motions of the hand seals as fast as she could before shouting out a loud, "SHIT!" when Itachi once again stopped her in the middle of the process and sent her flying once again. This time Sakura barreled right through the first tree before she managed to balance herself and slow down her slide across the ground with her chakra enhanced feet and fingers. Sakura stood up and glared at the man, blood was dripping from a cut on her forehead and down her face to drip off of her chin. Smaller lacerations could be seen on her arms and legs as she brought her foot up into the air.

"Don't even think about breaking the ground Sakura," Itachi ordered serenely as he rushed as her once again. Or at least Sakura thought that he rushed at her, you couldn't really describe what you couldn't see. Sakura bit her lip harshly as she sped up her seal making process and screamed in defiance when Itachi nearly tore through her torso. "Too slow."

"Too slow, too slow, well fuck you're too fast! You're a freaking prodigy dammit," Sakura shouted as she picked herself off the ground and marched right up to the older Uchiha, "Pro-di-gy! PRODIGY! I am sick of this!" She emphasized every word with a poke to his chest. Normally during her spars with Itachi she wouldn't even dare resort to yelling or poking at the much more lethal man but her patience had been cracked the moment that she had been flung into a tree for the thirtieth time that night.

Itachi's simply rolled his eyes up to the sky not listening to her loud shouts and her incessant ranting, knowing that she would quiet down soon enough. It was the way, as he had learned, that Haruno Sakura worked, emotions always came first. It was a useful weapon in her case, some of the time, but more than likely someday he knew it would end her.

Itachi resisted the urge to frown at the thought of the end of Sakura and resisted the urge to frown more about the fact that he even dared to care. He didn't care. There was only one person that he had cared so much about and look at how that had turned out.

Itachi rolled his eyes down to see her still fuming at him before rolling his eyes back up. Making her gain control of her emotions would be even more impossible than getting her seal making speed to improve. It would also change who she was. "We don't want anyone to be able to copy your jutsus. My jutsus to be precise."

"I know that! But throwing me into a tree is not going to get you anywhere with my speed!"

"Well, if you just finished your jutsu sooner than you would not be thrown into a tree, problem solved," Itachi stated with a bored tone and a lazy gait to the features on his face.

Sakura howled out in anger again as she turned away from him and pointed her nose up to the moon. Itachi gave her time as he literally watched the anger and impatience melt off of her as her nose twitched. That meant she was slowly admitting to herself that he was right. 'Women…'

Her whole entire stance softened as he looked as her back and her crossed arms became uncrossed. She turned her head slightly so that she would be able to see him through the corner of her left eye. "Okay… again. If you send me flying again, please don't put me through a tree."

Itachi raised one eyebrow at her as she purposefully avoided the look knowing that he wasn't going to oblige, but wanting to lie to herself anyway. He nodded as they circled each other in the large clearing; his eyes had been activated long ago. His normal eyes were already having trouble seeing her seals. However normal eyes were for normal people. Uchiha Itachi was anything but normal. Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke were anything but normal people. His sharingan could see absolutely everything that she planned to do.

He knew that his vision was fading faster than she could fix it, she was improving, but she wasn't improving nearly as fast as his eyes lead him to believe. He knew this and it infuriated him to no degree. He barreled forward as he saw the first seal, created a fist as he saw the second and smashed it into her shoulder before she could even finish the third. Sakura went flying again and hit the dirt with three rolls. "Too slow." He had been kind enough not to send her through a tree. His vision blurred for a second.

Sakura pushed herself off the ground with one arm and stared at him intently with her large green orbs. Itachi merely raised an eyebrow at her as she once again took to her two feet and took in a deep breath to calm her temper. "Sorry for yelling at you earlier," Sakura muttered as she chanced a look away from his spinning tomoe, her cheeks were pink from the exertion, "I know that you are only just trying to help me get stronger." She looked back at him and Itachi had an irking feeling that she knew exactly what was happening to his vision at the moment. Her green eyes blazed and he couldn't shake the feeling that Haruno Sakura was actually reading his tells, _and_ understanding them.

However, Itachi found himself to be extremely amused by her forced apology although her words were sincere. "No matter, you are keeping me alive, but I must say, you have improved very little since the last time we have trained. Often times you practice do you not? Improvement is one of your specialties. Have you suddenly found something more important than getting stronger?"

Sakura looked up at him with a small smile before shrugging her shoulders slightly. Itachi's eyes narrowed as he swiftly ran at her again while she tried to surprise him with her chain of seals. As expected he landed his blow to the center of her stomach and she went flying. In the seconds after, Itachi dispelled the genjutsu she had managed to catch him in. "Good strategy, but I would recommend learning what I am trying to teach you."

Sakura panted as she lay with her cheek pressed into the soil. The first few seals she had made were hoaxes; she had performed her real jutsu in mid air. "Ugg," she murmured as she turned her face into the dirt and shook her head back and forth. She hissed as she realized that she was grinding mud into her cut and breathed out a sigh of frustration. She quickly lifted her head and spat out the dirt that she had inhaled through her mouth. She was slowly loosing all brain function from the beating she was taking from the Uchiha. She dropped her face right back onto the dirt.

"Sakura, we have already deducted that you are good at strategy, but your seal making speed needs to improve." Itachi had walked over to kneel by her prone form and now had his arms resting neatly on his knees.

"The only people," Sakura mumbled into the ground, "That can see seal making speed like you can are Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-k… Sasuke."

Itachi's eyebrow rose, "And those two just happen to be on a formidable team that will sooner rather than later become the opposition to us. I suggest thinking about it that way."

Sakura sighed as she rolled to face the sky and Itachi's red eyes, "Deactivate it Itachi. I need to save some chakra to heal you… plus your sharingan is creepy as shit."

Itachi once again raised his eyebrows; "You are saving much more chakra for this than usual. You have only managed to perform the one jutsu."

"You did say that something more important must have been occupying my time for me to be still so incompetent at seal making," Sakura stated as she pushed herself up into a seating position. She rubbed her right eye fiercely and looked up at the man beside her, "Did you not?" Her hand brushed against her brow and the cut disappeared in a flash of green light.

"Indeed I did. However, I did not think that it was … any form of training." An amused smirk appeared on Itachi's lips.

Sakura's cheeks turned a dark red as her nose scrunched, "I do NOT spend that much time with Sasori!"

Itachi chuckled as he stood and held out a hand to her, "Perhaps, but you do happen to stare at him a lot."

Sakura's whole face turned bright red as she grabbed onto Itachi's hand and heaved herself off of the ground. Her whole entire body ached from the fierce punishment she had received from the man. "W-what?" Sakura bit out in a fit, "Are you jealous or something?"

Itachi chuckled, "Unlikely." Inside his heart nearly skipped a beat, only nearly, because Itachi didn't consider himself to be human enough for something so mundane and ridiculous to actually happen. He let go of her hand the moment that she was steady on her two feet and moved back. It was however, frightening that she could read his tells. "So will we just be taking care of the healing process out here again today?"

Sakura shook her head; "We need to go deeper into the forest."

"Is that so?"

"The others will get suspicious from all of the light that what I'm going to try is going to produce."

Itachi didn't question as he deactivated his sharingan and followed her out of the clearing and farther away from the little village they had spent the last eight months living in. She tripped through several brambles and trampled through the snow that had yet to melt due to the thick canopy. Sometimes Itachi wondered what exactly was shinobi about Sakura as he glided seamlessly through the snow, leaving no trace of his presence behind. "How deep will we be needing to go?" It seemed as through Sakura had been through the forest before.

Sakura looked back at him and smiled, "Not much farther, come on."

Itachi nodded as he calmly drifted between the tree trunks and caught up to stand beside her unmoving form. He raised an eyebrow when he saw the small makeshift shelter that was hidden in the trees. "It seems you have been quite busy." If he hadn't been looking for something out of the ordinary, the shelter would have been missed. Sometimes Itachi could be a little bit bewildered by the strange pink-headed kunoichi standing beside him.

Sakura huffed, "I told you I haven't been spending that much time with Sasori… or staring at him!"

Itachi chuckled as they approached the makeshift shelter and crawled through the opening. The walls were large pieces of decaying wood packed together with a dense layer of mud and covered with dead leaves to keep away the water. The whole structure was veiled by a low chakra genjutsu that the Uchiha believed no one but Sakura would have been able to pull off. Inside Itachi noticed that there was simply a cot for him to lie upon and a small woodland creature sleeping soundly in the corner. "Interesting."

Sakura smiled, "I thought she would have run away by now. I guess the injuries took a lot more out of her than I thought," Sakura muttered and approached the tiny rabbit. She ran her hand through the soft and slowly darkening coat of the bunny as it woke up. Its ears shot up into the air before its head popped from its paws. Looking back and forth the rabbit took in its surrounding before dashing out of the small shelter and disappearing into the thicket.

"Don't tell me you've been healing little animals this whole time."

Sakura laughed, "Old habits die hard, but not totally. That rabbit had nearly been torn in half by a wolf when I found it. I thought I would be able to use it to test something out. It worked. Of course that was about the tenth rabbit that I had found in that condition."

"The wolves have been howling recently."

"Haha, sorry, that would be mostly my fault. Same reason why I kind of feel responsible for the rabbits."

"How would the hunt of the wolf be in anyway your fault?"

Sakura shrugged and grinned, "You'll see. Now lie down and get comfortable, one thing I've learned is that this will take me a lot of time."

"And chakra."

"Indeed."

Itachi chuckled as he approached the cot, "You speak like Sasori now."

"Do I? I didn't really notice," a pretty blush had spread across Sakura's face as she kneeled down beside his chest, "I know it will be a little bit cold, but can you expose your chest for me? It will work better this way. Usually I shave the bunny for the same effect but most of the fur is usually gone anyways."

Itachi nodded as he undid the buttons of his cloak and exposed his chest to the nibbles of the cold outside. "Can you explain to me what you will be doing differently this time?"

Sakura nodded, "Of course. I'll tell you while I'm trying to get it ready. As I said I still don't quite have the hang of it, but at the moment I believe it is now or never."

Itachi nodded, confirming that the impossible had happened and she had learned to read some of him and gazed at her as she pushed back her sleeves and brought her hands into the air. Her fingers flashed through a long line of several seals before her right palm started to glow an ethereal green and brightened beyond the chakra concentration of the mystic palm. Her left palm was scanning up and down his chest until it lay directly in the center. "I can see now why you needed so much chakra."

Sakura's eyes closed slowly as she continued to amass the healing chakra into her hand. "I first saw this concept nearly three years ago, maybe more during my chuunin exams. Sasuke-k... Sasuke had used it in his fight against the current Kazekage, Gaara, and it seemed as though Kakashi-sensei had taught it to him. His, however, will be different from mine because both Kakashi-sensei and… your little brother were lightning types. They called it the chidori, a thousand birds, the sound of the chakra."

"I recall the chidori, this is less like that and more like the technique of…"

"The fourth Hokage, the Sannin Jiraiya-sama and Naruto."

"The rasengan."

"The incomplete version of the rasengan too, I can't get any better than incomplete," Sakura laughed with a bitter edge to her voice as the first drop of sweat ran down her cheek.

The mention of the two techniques left shivers running down her spine. She remembered the day like yesterday. The time when it was unclear what would happen to Sasuke and what he would do in regards to his revenge. The challenge that had occurred on the rooftop of the hospital had left so many scars on her heart and she remembered the first time she had ever thought to develop this technique in order to save the life of the man who her once love, was destined to kill.

The bright green light still irked her and flashes of the two powerful techniques still sprung before her eyes. She had been fearless in that very moment when she had thought that her two old teammates were really going to kill each other. She had run between the two attacks, she had almost been destroyed by what she was now trying to replicate.

The chakra continued to fizzle in her palm as it concentrated into a denser ball of energy.

No, she wasn't trying to replicate their technique. This wasn't about trying to be better or even equal to her teammates; it was about saving a life. At least that was what she always told herself every time she wasted away her energy trying to do something of some great equivalence to the legend of the men of Team 7.

Itachi watched Sakura eyes waver and become haunted. He could practically see the nightmares that plagued her mind and he wondered, truly, how she had come so desperate as to create something so new and so raw. Haruno Sakura was broken, beaten and desperate… and Itachi still cared for her. He was a twisted man. "So you used their example in conjunction with your earth and healing type."

Sakura's eyes seemed to snap out of her reverie as the chakra in her hand popped slightly before regaining its circular shape. The energy was beginning to make a sound. "Healing isn't exactly a type, but yes I guess you could say that. However, I'm not an earth type or at least I don't think so. I've never been tested for any affinities or anything. Speaking of affinities, sorry for stopping in the middle of my sentence…"

"It does not matter."

"Eh hee, Naruto's affinity is for that of wind. I believe, just like the chidori, that the rasengan can be combined with any type of affinity in order to create what would be a complete technique."

"Ah…"

"I never have seen it for myself, but I'm sure now that the attack exists and that that attack is the true form of the rasengan. Naruto had been gone with Jiraiya-sama for two years and I believe it might have been the attack to aid in the killing your comrade, Kakuzu."

"Believable."

"So I thought about it long and hard, especially for the past four months or so and I figured to be able to do something like that, you would need great chakra control, something that I naturally have, but I would also need great reserves of chakra, something that I lack. I can perform this technique maybe once, when my chakra reserves are nearly full, but I'm sure the healing effects will last for a much longer time than just the mystic palm. That is the test of course, its not like I will ever use the rabbits for an experiment like this."

Itachi looked up to the ceiling, "So now you are using me for your own chakra testing."

Sakura's eyes snapped open as the chakra in her palm began to dim down into a steadier glow of green light, "If you wish for me just to heal you normally…"

"No, I want you to try everything you can to keep me alive for as long as possible." Itachi's black eyes had hardened in the dim light of her chakra.

Sakura nodded, "You're degrading faster than I can heal you, so if this works… it will be… good to say the least."

"You tried it on the rabbits first? You've been developing it for about four months now?"

"Yep."

"The time you had the fever then…"

"That was the day I tried to do it twice, bad idea was what I and you all probably learned… It was god awful though, I couldn't even get the energy to formulate off my skin the second time around and yet it totally drained everything in me. But I can do it once, that is for sure."

"Good, at least I have the assurance that you know what you are doing and how I probably will not perish by your hands. I am assuming that only recently have you figured out how to execute this technique properly and have been trying to hone it ever since, so you have relaxed on your other skills of training."

Sakura smiled, "Yah, I didn't want to accidently kill you…" Sakura took her left hand off of Itachi's chest and braced her right hand around the wrist. Her hands shook slightly as the green ball of energy continued to form. Tendrils of chakra began to whirl around the main body of energy.

Images flashed into Sakura vision again as her hand shivered for a second. Her whole face now was soaked in sweat that was dripped off of her chin. Sakura let out a slightly panicked breath of air as she suddenly say the green chakra turn blue and the roaring of a thousand birds call from behind her.

"You seem anxious."

Sakura smiled again as the birds ceased their calling and the chakra turned green, "I found out that my technique, made out of healing chakra, stops the degradation of cells and can build a couple new ones. Hence why it can repair something as fatal as the mauling of the wolves. Naruto's rasengan, the true form of it with the use of battle chakra, probably destroys cells then. It's a scary thought." Scary in more ways than one. She was better now than she had ever been before, but she was still irrevocably broken.

"A formidable technique."

"Indefinitely, okay I'm going to need to shut up for a bit, concentration is the key! Entertain yourself while I get this right."

"Understood."

Itachi watched as the healing chakra in her hand continued to buzz to life; sweat was dripping from her temple as she manipulated her chakra so that the tendrils created a transparent sphere around the main body.

Itachi had witnessed the chidori and the rasengan before in his life, but her chakra looked nothing like the massive balls of energy her old teammates and sensei made. Instead of being in any way erratic, the energy was smoother and centered delicately onto her palm. Suddenly the ball of energy burst into an array of sound and Itachi realized why the wolves had started to migrate to the surrounding forests. The green energy continued to call into the wild, was calming instead of terrorizing and Itachi likened the sound that it made to that of the howl of the wolves. "Ah…" he whispered so as not to disturb her. That would explain everything.

It was another hour before Sakura opened her eyes again and breathed out a sigh of relief. Itachi watched as the haunted look disappeared fully from her eyes as she looked upon her creation, the technique that she had developed herself, probably the one technique that could counter the damage of the rasengan and chidori. Itachi saw the pride in her eyes and watched as the broken pieces healed ever so slowly. Her whole entire face was damp from her sweat and her shoulders were heaving from exertion but she was smiling like she had just finally caught up to Team 7. In Itachi's eyes, she already had.

The final product that she held in her hand looked as smooth as stone and had delicate white lines fluttering in the swirling chakra. "This doesn't even contain an element and I'm already so close to being finished," Sakura whispered as she brought her palm over Itachi's bare chest. Her voice was cracked and her lips her chapped.

Itachi stayed silent as he watched the light casting from her palm play with the shadows on her face and then flickered his eyes to the hand that was hanging over his chest. Sakura took in a deep breath before turning her palm down, putting her left hand on top of her right and shoving the ball of energy into him with a tremendous grunt.

Itachi hissed and arched his back slightly at the massive amount of chakra entering his system and shut his eyes tightly. The blinding green light filled the make shift shelter, flooded the back of his eyelids and he understood her reason for the distance to the village and the tiny house. He had never experienced anything quite like that before and then he felt like he could breath again.

He registered Sakura's labored breaths and her fingers touching his cheek, "Good… you're not dead," she managed to mutter before collapsing forward onto the cot.

"Ah… so it was not for me," Itachi murmured as he sat up and brought his hands to his chest where he could still feel her energy swirl, "How many days or nights have you spent resting out here? I thought that you went shopping too often lately…"

Sakura's breaths were even as her eyes fluttered in her sleep, "Who knows, a girl likes to shop."

Itachi shifted slightly and moved her so that she was lying in his arms. She groaned from the movement but once again did not wake up. "Thank you, Sakura," he muttered softly and ran his fingertips over her forehead. He carried her out of the make shift shelter and out of the deep forest.

Itachi approached the clearing in which they usually trained and scanned the area. Sasori had not come looking for her, as of yet. It seemed as though she had told no one of her escapades in the forest and had caused no reason for alarm in her many absences.

But as Itachi approached the brightly lit house he could see Sasori's shadow standing at the open door. His arms were crossed as he leaned against the doorframe; his eyes flickered up to meet Itachi's obsidian ones. "Did you wear her out once again?" Sasori hissed.

Itachi nodded and handed the girl over to the man in front of him. Sasori took her with more delicacy than Itachi thought he harbored and the puppet master turned his back on the sharingan user, "She is stubborn."

"I know," Sasori replied, he still was not happy with her condition as he walked down the hall and into their bedroom. Itachi could see Sakura curl up in the Puppet Master's embrace, even while sleeping and he wondered why his heart was still beating so loudly from the healing chakra she had instilled within him.

Itachi closed the door behind him and pulled off his cloak before hanging it on a hook nearby. He slipped off his shoes tenderly and placed them on the rug beside the door. Sasori came back down the hall with Sakura's shoes in his hands and placed them beside Itachi's. "She appreciates your training and cares very much about you… and the other two." Nothing had ever sounded so forced before.

"You do not have to apprehensive about her feelings towards you."

"Is that so?"

"Even with everything that she is doing for me and with me, you are the only one who is constantly on her mind. I am no threat to you. Neither are Kisame or Deidara."

"Either way, I am not foolish enough to let anything tear this division apart."

"I concur." Itachi walked past Sasori and towards his own quarters for the evening, passing a hand over his chest as he went. The constant pain that he normally harbored had eased even minutely. Strangely enough Itachi also found that his vision had also improved. "Brilliant," he muttered as he opened the door to his bedroom.

"Goodnight Itachi."

"Goodnight Sasori."

_Healing_

Sakura took in a deep breath as she opened her eyes, expecting for the bitter cold to bite at her skin but instead feeling the warmth of a blanket and arms envelope her. "You have awakened?"

"S-Sasori?" Sakura muttered as she turned her head to gaze into his familiar brown eyes.

He nodded at her calmly as she regarded him and he watched as a smile sprung to her lips and the redness return to her cheeks, her grin turned cheeky as she flickered her eyes back and forth between his body and his arms. "You're sitting awfully close."

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, no problem at all," Sakura giggled as she grabbed his shirt and pulled him even closer to her. She took in a deep breath and inhaled his scent before kissing his collarbone tenderly. Her eyes lingered back to his brown orbs and then to his red hair. Maybe Itachi was on to something.

Sasori let himself smile slightly at her antics as he ran his finger gingerly through her hair and stroked the back of her neck, "What have you and Itachi been learning lately?" he asked as he gazed as her short pink locks that flowed effortlessly through his fingers.

"Seal making speed. Apparently I suck at it!" Sakura giggled as she ran her hands up his arms and touched his head lightly at the temples.

"I deducted that considering all the bruises you still have left on your skin." He smirked down at her and his eyes softened when they came in contact with her bright green ones. 'Her eyes are only for me.' "There is nothing to worry about."

"Worry?" asked Sakura as she sat up slightly, "What do you have to worry about? Did you get hurt on your last mission? Are you okay? Did someone manage to shatter your new toy?"

"No, no. Everything is well Sakura, and my puppets are not toys."

Sakura's forehead crinkled slightly as she looked up at him with brazen eyes, "You better not be lying to me. I'll be cross if you're lying to me." Her lips were pulled into a pout.

Sasori chuckled again as he pushed her back down onto the bed, "There is nothing to fear Sakura. I am well, you are as you've always been and everything is as it should be."

Sakura squirmed slightly before giggling as Sasori pressed his lips gently to her forehead. "Okay, if you're totally sure."

"I am most certain."

"Okay, good night Sasori…kun! Kiss?" Sakura's eyes sparkled.

Sasori laughed and Sakura marveled at the sound before feeling the light pressure on her lips, "Good night Sakura."

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Oh, Kisame, thank you for volunteering to go grocery shopping with me, get ready in your…err disguise and we'll head out in about ten minutes, neh?"

"Aww, guppy actually cares about me!"

"I can't wait for the day in which I can kill you."

"I do not whine woman."

"It is 'nice looking' but I never really have loved it, not like people expect me to at least. I pity it would be a better expression for my feelings."

"I wanted to ask you a favor."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

This was a hard chapter to write simply because there was so much going on that I needed to keep track of and everything. This chapter took forever to come out but I'm pretty happy with the result. Sorry for the long wait everyone but it was because I kept on getting ideas for add ons, and I kept on telling myself I didn't need to write it down because I would remember it... and then I would forget. Lol...

More development between Sakura and Itachi hahaha


	21. Blossoms

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 21: Blossoms

"I'm going grocery shopping, anyone want to come?" Sakura asked as she poked her head into the living area. She smiled when she saw her four boys lounging on the couches doing nothing but being lazy. Sakura didn't know when she had started calling these particular four boys _her_ boys, just like she had no idea when seeing them being lazy had not become weird. They still weren't totally human to her, but then again after the time that she had spent with them, she wasn't sure if she was either. "Anyone?"

"You go, yeah. I'm too tired," Deidara muttered and flickered his eyes up to her, "Why are you so excited? You should be tired too, yeah." His arms were thrown over the couch in the classic Deidara fashion and Sakura squinted to imagine him in a mundane environment, maybe in a theatre within Suna with a girl in his arms. The thought almost made her choke from laughter and she knew that her comfort with the explosives genius was going one step too far. She was being absurd.

Sakura shrugged with a grin on her face in reply to Deidara's raised eyebrow, "My muscles are sore and I feel like I'm going to topple over at any moments notice, but if I do, I just know that later on I'm going to get a giant ear full from someone about there being no food."

"Shut it."

"Oh, Kisame, thank you for volunteering to go grocery shopping with me, get ready in your…err disguise and we'll head out in about ten minutes, neh?"

"Tch, bitch." Kisame refused to open his eyes as he continued to rest the back of his head on the arm of couch with his legs thrown to the side and onto the ground.

"I won't buy you any fish if you don't come with me."

His eyes flashed open as he glared at her menacingly, "Make it five minutes before we're out the door."

"A-okay!" Sakura chirped as she disappeared back into the hall to saunter back to her bedroom and get changed for her shopping trip. Sakura groaned slightly and rubbed her arms before she shut the bedroom door behind her with a happy squeal of success.

"Very nice, now you're being manipulated by her," Itachi stated as he flipped the page in his book. He had his elbow rested on the other armrest of the couch and his head was flopped lazily in his hand. His eyes were shining with a tinge of amusement as he flipped his page once more.

Kisame's eyes narrowed, "Not manipulated, I just want my fish and it's not that bothersome to help her go shopping. Even if she did get manipulative, she only got it from your crap Itachi or even you Sasori. It was probably passed on through your saliva or something."

"Ew, don't need that image yeah. I hear enough of it already, yeah."

"Ah, my crap to be sure," Itachi dawdled still amused, "But if you knew she was manipulating you then why…"

"I don't have saliva," Sasori replied calmly.

Deidara grunted, "Yeah, thank's for stopping with the images Sasori no danna. Aren't you awesome?"

"Indeed."

"Amusing to watch her flirt with the shopkeepers to get more food. Once in a while she tries to push out her non existent breasts and wiggle around…"

"She flirts with the shopkeepers?" Sasori asked from his position on the floor close to Kisame's head while not trying to imagine what Sakura flirting with mortals would be like. The images did not please him in the least. Maybe Deidara had a point with the mental images…

"Oh please, like you didn't know," Kisame snapped and stood up from his position. He stretched out before grabbing the cloak that had been hastily thrown over the back of his sofa from the last time he had gone out into the village a week or so ago. Had Sakura dragged him out that time too? He didn't want to remember, because that would be admitting something unsightly.

Sasori merely looked up at him with a blank look before going back into his realm of thoughts. "Indeed."

"I need a good fight to get myself going again, yeah," Deidara groaned as he flung his arms over his eyes, "Why haven't we had anything to do for the past week?"

"Because everyone is spring cleaning!" Sakura chirped as she appeared behind the blond. "Your opponent is dust and your barrier is everything around you. Fight hard!"

"Awful fight, yeah." Deidara looked up with her with a small smile as she smiled back down at him. They burst out laughing before Sakura turned back to Kisame.

"You ready guppy?"

"Yah…" he replied securing the cloak around his neck and following her out of the room.

Before Kisame managed to walk out of the door Sakura had disappeared from his side and he watched as she stuck her head back into the living area, "You guys should probably have this room cleaned by the time we come back. See… if you had just agreed to go shopping with me it wouldn't have to have gone down like this, and look at that Deidara, you even got your next epic battle," Sakura grinned at the three pairs of eyes that almost glared at her and shook her head with a smile on her face.

"Go die in a hole, yeah."

"I'm kidding! I'll clean this room up when I get back okay? You guys did enough yesterday, so relax and I'll make you guys an awesome meal tonight," Sakura grinned childishly. Itachi's eyebrow twitched in amusement as Deidara's face twisted in guilty resignation.

Sakura skipped back to where Kisame was waiting for her and pulled on her shoes before opening the door. Kisame followed her into the warm sun and the warm wind. "You do realize that the room will probably be clean by the time that we come back."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the sword wielder beside her and put on her best innocent smirk. When had she stopped smiling like a normal person? "I honestly doubt it. I was shocked enough yesterday when the Akatsuki volunteered to help me spring clean. Plus they all glared at me, have you ever had three Akatsuki members glare at you before? It's freaking scary…" Her voice was all squeaky and beyond amused. Although she had gotten good at manipulation she was still horrible at lying during the aftermath.

"We normally don't clean and I normally dish out the looks, so no I don't know how scary..."

"Then why did all four of you help, hm guppy?" Sakura asked as she tilted her head up to look at him in the eyes. She was teasing him. He wanted to rip off her head, but he knew he couldn't… or wouldn't. Now he wanted to rip off his own head.

Kisame paused for a bit and searched for some sort of answer that would please her, please him and get them out of this topic of conversation. She had gotten over her fear of punching him in the arm about a month ago and he decided that as much as would have liked to take revenge with every hit she made, it amused him too much when her small fist tried to do damage to his trained arm, or at least that was what he liked to tell himself. It was a legitimate enough reason. Recently however, she had been putting chakra into her punches and though he would never, EVER admit it, his arm got sore after three hits. "You just looked so much like a freaking housemaid running around with that duster and apron that we pitied you and decided to help. Just a little bit."

Sakura laughed at his answer, "A little bit? You guys helped a lot. You didn't have to. I knew what I was getting into when I decided that that habit was going to be one of the ones that would die pretty hard."

"Whatever, what's done is freaking done and I'm never going to be doing that again."

"Aww, guppy actually cares about me!"

"Didn't you hear what I just said?"

"You really, really care about me!"

"What kind of fucked up conclusion are you coming to now?"

"That you are an adorable little fishy although you talk with big teeth. Naw, naw, naw." Sakura made ridiculous shark impressions with her teeth as she tried to get her point across and ended with a laugh.

"I can't wait for the day in which I can kill you."

"You love me too much to kill me," Sakura stated with a smirk on her face and her finger waving around as though she were stating a well-known fact. Kisame chose to stay silent although he sneered at her beneath the hood of his cloak. Sakura just laughed at his antics as they fell into a comfortable silence.

They walked down the road as the streets began to get more and more crowded with different vendors and other shoppers that were out in the afternoon. Sakura smiled and closed her eyes allowing the wind to push her short locks of hair back and forth and around her face. It was easy following Kisame around; he was always the tallest man in the crowd. Being around Kisame was like having that big protective older brother that she never had… or maybe someone she could look up to, literally in this case, like she should have had a sensei. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"I know you hated me in the beginning. Hated being the understatement of the season."

"What makes you think that I don't now?"

Sakura shrugged and let a laugh escape her lips, "I honestly don't know. Nothing makes me think anything about you. You're just too unpredictable to specifically dictate, but you didn't put up that much of a resistance when I declared that you would be the one to go shopping with me."

"It wouldn't have worked if I tried to put up any kind of a resistance anyways," Kisame hissed, "The other guys would have made me go or you would have turned into a violent banshee. Oh wait, you already are one."

"It's because you're the one that is most volatile with your emotions, uh… second maybe to banshee me I guess. Or maybe we're on the same level of emotional volatility; those three just manipulate us sometimes without even realizing it. Does it annoy you?"

Kisame blinked as he stared at her for a good long time. Sakura seemed to be lost in her thoughts so she didn't even realize the irony that she had just spouted out of her mouth. "I've gotten used to it. You have to get used to it if you plan to live around them for several years. I also revel in the knowledge that I can slice all of them in half at any time I want, even Itachi if I catch him off guard... probably, tch. But that includes you, you know."

Sakura choked on her laughter, "I've gotten used to it too, though you know I'm not one to slice people in half."

"You're one to send them flying into the next country," Kisame smirked as he watched Sakura stamp her foot down in defiance. "So bitch. Why was it that you wanted me to go shopping with you anyways? You never seriously go upon your no fish threats or your no dinner threats. Plus we should have lasted another week with all the groceries you made me carry last time."

"True, you would whine too much." Sakura stopped walking just as they passed a crowd of people.

"I do not whine woman." Kisame stopped by her side and dug his hands into the pockets of his trench coat.

Sakura laughed again and turned her eyes up to the center square of their little village, "You know, until just recently I didn't even realize that this tree was a cherry blossom tree, my namesake. For a medical nin, that's pretty pathetic, even if the flowers hadn't been in bloom. Guess I was too distracted by other issues."

"Never really cared," Kisame replied putting most of his weight on one foot and staring at the tree as though wondering if it would tell him why they were staring at it.

Sakura smiled up at the tree, "I came here at about the end of summer last year or was it the beginning? I don't quite remember anymore but by that time all of the petals had fallen and I wasn't really intent on looking around here. I had more to worry about than that."

Kisame smirked, "Like the fact that you were sent to infiltrate a criminal organization where in all likelihood you would die, be beaten, or tortured depending on what Konoha thinks of us."

"Yah, something like that, though honestly I expected us to be living in a dark cavern of some sort," Sakura laughed.

"Eh, only once in a while and never for more than two nights," Kisame replied and Sakura laughed.

She stayed standing in that one spot looking up at the cherry blossom tree whose branches were large and spanned fiercely over the patch of grass that lay beneath it. "Now that I know though, it's kind of sad."

"Sad that you aren't dead? I can understand that…" Kisame grinned, Sakura shot him a glare from the corner of her eye and he chuckled, "Why's that? Even I consider the cherry blossom tree kind of nice looking and the farthest thing from sad."

"It is 'nice looking' but I never really have loved it, not like people expect me to at least. I use its petals when I teleport because nothing else comes to mind and people expect it of me but in actuality 'I pity it' would be a better expression for my feelings."

"Pity? You pity a tree… a tree in which you are named after."

"The cherry tree, the sakura tree, is celebrated because of its beauty… over such a short life time. It blooms and then it dies with the wind. It's just a little bit tragic you know. What if you were celebrated simply because your life was going to be brief?"

"You have a point, but I wouldn't mind as long as in that short life I was fighting the good fight."

"You think so?"

"I want it to be so, but what does that have to do with grocery shopping?" Kisame asked with a twitch of his eye. He scanned the center square of the village, he wasn't the type to stand around and talk about trees.

"It has nothing to do with grocery shopping," Sakura said with a smirk, "Just thoughts that have been running through my head and everything. But I did ask you to come with me for a reason."

"Oh, the bitch always has an alternative motive."

"Oh shush," Sakura snapped, "I wanted to ask you a favor."

Kisame blinked at her and raised an eyebrow in mild disbelief, "You… are asking ME… a favor?"

"Did you not hear me the first time, guppy?"

"No, it's just that that is hard to believe bitch. Why not Sasori your boyfriend… or Deidara your best friend?"

"Don't use the word boyfriend or best friend, that sounds… weird, way too civilian," Sakura shuddered as she imagined Sasori being a boyfriend in terms of dating within a village. Shikamaru and Ino came to mind and then suddenly Ino was replaced by Deidara and Shikamaru was replaced by Sasori and Sakura cut off her train of thought as fast as she could.

"Or Itachi, you two have been pretty buddy, buddy recently..."

"Buddy, buddy?"

"Anyone would have been better than me."

Sakura shrugged as her feet started moving again. She didn't want to look at the bloomed petals of the sakura tree that stood tall and steady above her. They would be gone soon anyways; the seasons would always leave them behind. The summer, blond hair, the autumn, silver locks, the winter, ebony shades, would come and go, never minding that the petals had died along with spring. Sakura frowned, she wasn't a season like her old teammates were, she was a passing glance, and something the other seasons hadn't ever seen or wish to see. 'But I'm going to fight the good fight.' She didn't _need_ to be a season anymore.

"Because… you're the perfect one for the job. I need someone who deals mainly in close combat, that immediately takes out Deidara, no question and I need someone who won't be in any way emotionally involved with me."

"You still have Itachi then."

"Emotionally involved in what I'm going to ask you to do and Itachi is more emotionally involved than I think Sasori will be."

"Tell me what you want me to do first."

Sakura laughed, "Oh you would be a great loan shark, I can just feel it." Sakura ignored the glare that Kisame shot her, "It's not that bad of a deal. It almost guarantees a good fight too."

"Is that so?" Kisame was undoubtedly interested, "Still state the specifics."

Sakura turned around quickly and stood in front of Kisame. Her green orbs locked with his eyes and he noticed that they were glassier than usual. They had once again frozen on the spot. "It's been nine months, my deadline for my 'mission' is in three and I know you might think that it's a little bit too early to think about this, but I've been thinking about his since the very beginning. I just need to get the reassurance that I need for what I am planning to do and that's why I'm asking you this early… I need to plan, I need to know or else I won't be able to... I'm going to have to face them and I just know they are going to put up a resistance to me not coming back."

"Your old team."

"Team 7 and whoever else are going to be with them."

"What makes you think that there will be more than just the kyuubi, Itachi's little brother and the copy-nin?"

Sakura fluttered her eyes closed, "I know my Shishou and Kakashi-sensei very well. They won't be taking any chances, especially considering what class of criminal you guys are and just how valuable Shishou made me become. They may expect all four of you to be chasing after me when I escape and considering how badly they lost the first time when it was just Team 7, they aren't going to take any chances with my recovery. Or at least I would hope…" Sakura remember Shikamaru's words and how Tsunade had disgraced her, but Sakura scanned through her memory and found that she still remembered everything that Tsunade had ever shown her. Her eyes fluttered and she relaxed, a smirk adorned her face, "No, I'm sure."

Kisame kept all emotion off his face as he watched them all pass over hers. There were things she wasn't telling them, but everyone had their little secrets. "Is that so? And you want me there to help you state your case?"

"In a sense. No need to drag everyone, but I know that I'm no match for even one of the boys on my old team much less an extra set of hands that may want to take me back."

"No match for any of Team 7?"

Sakura smirked, "Only if they come at me with full strength."

"Sounds fun, I've been itching with a rematch with the copy-nin."

"No," Sakura growled fiercely, "Team 7 is mine."

"But you just said…"

"I know what I just said, but I want you to take care of the backup team. I don't want you to kill anyone obviously, but I want you to keep them busy."

"You're going against three people, all stronger than you…"

"As I said, only if they come at me at full strength, which they won't. I'm still kidnapped little Haruno Sakura to them."

"You manage to take all of the fun out of a good fight don't you?" Kisame sneered, "But if I don't get the kyuubi, the copy nin or Itachi's little brother, what says that I will get a good fight."

"They will probably send a team from the Konoha 12… 11, whatever. I know everything about every member of the Konoha 12, their histories, their medical records, strengths, weaknesses, everything that had ever been on record for all of Konoha, I know and I can tell it all to you within the three months that we have left here. Even if Shishou doesn't send someone from the Konoha 12… three months should still be enough time," Sakura grinned.

'So that's the trump card that she's been keeping…' "That's some knowledge you have there."

Sakura continued as though he hadn't just interrupted her, "I'm no match for Naruto, Sasuke or Kakashi-sensei in a fair fight, but this battle is going to be anything but fair. They think I'm still a weakling to begin with and I'm sure even if Shishou told them differently that they will not believe her until I manage to land a hit on one of them." Sakura laughed in excitement as she continued to ramble and repeat, "And even then, Shishou only knows half of it. I've gotten a whole lot stronger since I've been here with you guys. I've finally been able to develop on my natural talents and I might even be able to make a mark on medical history of my own…"

"Right…" Kisame grinned, amused by the fact that she was getting so hyped up. He recognized the glint in her eyes. It was the same as when blood splashed and bodies fell on the battlefield.

Sakura grinned as Kisame failed to understand what she had meant by the medical jutsu, "So they will lose because they won't fight at their best. They will be too emotionally involved and that is why I ask for your help. I'm asking you to distract the others while I show my old team just who they had dared to leave behind."

"I'm a pawn in your revenge game then."

Sakura's eyes narrowed, "It's not revenge. It's retribution. I will wring their lives from them with my own hands. They aren't my team anymore, I'm not part of Team 7 anymore, if I ever was in the first place."

"So you're basically asking me to take out the trash," Kisame stated, the corner of his lips twitching ever so slightly as Sakura's eyes darkened and her hands shook. He watched as Sakura sneered and dug her nails into the palms of her hands to stop the shaking.

"Not even that technically, but nonetheless it will still be a good fight, and I know just how much you like your fights guppy," Sakura stated her eyes once again glowing as the slight sheen of water disappeared on their surface, "Will you please do this for me… Kisame?"

"I'll think about it," Kisame stated with a clip in his voice as he pushed past her and towards the market. Sakura clenched her fists tightly and bit her lip hard as she turned around and watched him walk away.

"Fuck, why do all men have to be such bastards," Sakura mumbled loudly while tasting fresh blood on her tongue. 'Weak, I'm weak. I can't even talk about it without shaking… why will I always be so damn weak?' She ran up to walk beside him. She stayed silent; it would be useless to continue arguing for something that was obviously being thought upon.

_Blossoms_

"You better be making the fish, crab AND shrimp tonight," Kisame grinned as he opened the front door of the house for her.

Sakura smiled at him, "I wouldn't dare waste such a fish that fresh. Don't worry Mr. Guppy you'll get your food." She walked down the hall and stuck her head into the living room.

Her mouth twisted in a pleased grin as Kisame looked in right after her, "I told you it would be clean."

Sakura's eye twitched as she looked up at him, she dramatically widened her mouth, "I didn't expect this at all!"

Kisame rolled his eyes, "Anyways shut up. Akatsuki are not waking people."

"Surprising considering how early all of you guys wake up," Sakura mumbled resentfully.

"Just because you're less of a morning person and look like a mother fucking bird's nest when you wake up doesn't mean that we like to be woken up from our naps."

"Aww do you take your naps too?" Sakura taunted with a wave of her finger as she skipped down the hallway humming happily.

Kisame rolled his eyes as glanced away from the three napping shinobi in the newly cleaned living area. He followed her into the kitchen placing his bags on the counter and promptly sat down in his seat at the dining table. Sakura got right to placing everything they had bought into the cupboards and into the half full refrigerator. "So what else is going to be in this brilliant feast for us?"

Sakura looked over her shoulder and smiled brightly at him. "Lots of random stuff."

"That… in no doubt answered my question."

Sakura giggled and stuck her tongue out at him, "I'm going to be making miso soup, cabbage, onigiri, sushi, barbeque squid, something Deidara told me he liked, I have the recipe and whole bunch of other things. You just need to worry about eating it all, okay?"

"No problem there."

Sakura laughed again, "I know!" She piqued and then turned her head to look at him again, "Thank you anyways."

"Ah…"

"Are you just going to be sitting around while I cook or are you going to go take a nap as well? You deserve it."

"I'll stay."

"Okay."

Silence followed for the next two hours as Kisame watched the pink haired girl race around the kitchen preparing all of the food that she had planned for the evening. He noticed that ingredients were being pulled out that had nothing to do with the menu she had listed and smiled faintly as she made an assortment of sauces and desserts. "You know for a whore, you're cooking isn't bad."

"Well that basically just came out of no where," Sakura stated as she sliced through the fish and quickly laid the long strips in the hot oil that was sitting over the stove. She hissed when some of the oil splattered onto her arm. "You need to taste good cooking someday. Shizune was a good cook; Genma is a very lucky man. Imagine her food was like the food we had the festival but even better."

"That stuff was okay, not as good though."

"Are you actually trying to compliment me?" Sakura asked as she leaned over the counter and grinned at him. Her hand was glowing a bright green as she healed the oil burns that dotted her arms. The bright red blotches disappeared instantly as Kisame remembered the first injury that she had fixed for him.

Kisame scoffed as he took his eyes off of her hands and arms, "Don't kid yourself."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Sakura replied with an amused tone of voice before she reached for a pair of chopsticks to turn the many strips of fish she had lying on the pan over. Kisame continued to watch as she methodically cut more strips of the fish and fried them to a slightly darker color than the gold of perfection.

"Before you, I had never had a home cooked meal before."

Sakura looked up at him surprised for two very distinct reasons, one that he was talking about something even slightly emotional and second that he was actually talking to her civilly. "Is that so?"

"Yah. I was born and raised to kill. Every cell in my body thirsts for blood."

"I can see where that comes from," Sakura mumbled as she recalled her constant thirst for blood while in the midst of battle. Her eyes flashed as she hummed merrily.

"I didn't have parents or any one who would cook for me."

"Most of the Akatsuki don't seem like that had very much of a past before the organization."

"I had a past."

"I meant a past that they are willing to remember."

"Ah… yah I don't really care about my past. You might think it's disgusting, but it got me to where I am today, so I don't mind it all that much."

Sakura plucked the fried fish out of the pan and settled it onto the plate, "Try one and tell me what you think before the others wake up," she said as she held the plate out to him, "And then tell me your story if you really want to."

"Are you sure you want to hear it? I don't know if your weak mind will be able to take it," Sakura scowled as he took one of the strips and dropped it into his wide open mouth, "It's very different from that of the copy-nin's. I'm sure that his morals have been ingrained into you from youth. The fish is not salty enough."

"They have, but it doesn't make me understand any less why his morals wouldn't have been ingrained into other people."

"Ah ha, yah..." Kisame snickered, "I killed everyone I was ever close to in order to protect information on a mission this once. And then I destroyed those who took away the shinobi pride from my village. A market town now, that stupid place is. It's what I get for not living in Kirigakure." Kisame was blunt, short and concise.

Sakura paused as she cleaned the first pan and prepared to make the broth for her soup, "Is that so?"

"I disgust you don't I?"

"You disgust me no more now than you did five minutes ago."

"You're being mightily understanding."

Sakura laughed as she took some tofu and stirred it into the large pot that sat in front of her, "I can't relate, not one little bit. I can't even imagine killing anyone close to me, but I can understand wanting to and then the difference between wanting and doing isn't too far. I wouldn't be here still if I didn't build up the power to understand and connect similar feelings."

"Itachi's past."

"Yah… his past even affected my life. Yours didn't, but yes I can't relate and I can't say that I approve, but I can understand. To put it another way, I can't sympathize but I can empathize, but I don't think you need or even want my empathy."

"No I don't, I'm happy that I did what I did."

"To each their own. Now taste this guppy and tell me if it's too salty!" Sakura demanded as she held out a spoon with warm broth on it. Kisame slurped up the contents and Sakura pulled back cringing with repulsion. "You can't be any more civil?"

"It's fine."

"Good," Sakura chirped. "I just need to cut up the sushi now, do you mind waking up the other guys and getting the table set up with the rice and everything?"

Kisame grunted before exiting the kitchen area. Sakura followed him with her eyes as he exited and she breathed out a sigh of relief, "Never thought I would have a heart to heart with that man…"

Some groans and even a small explosion were heard down the hall followed by a long string of loud curses. Sakura laughed loudly at the commotion as she sliced up the raw pieces of fish in front of her and placed them on the plate along with wasabi and some ginger.

Within five minutes the table was filled with three drowsy shinobi and one very annoyed one. All of the dishes were set down on the table as Sakura ran back into the kitchen to grab the rice, "You guys get started first," Sakura stated with a smile as she set down the massive bowl of rice.

She walked back into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She poked at her desserts and frowned slightly, "You should come eat too."

Sakura squeaked as she stood up and turned around quickly. Sasori was standing behind her with his arms crossed. She smiled at him kindly while shutting the door that was behind her. "I'll be there in a minute. I told you to get started first, it seems that Kisame took that suggestion whole heartedly."

"Indeed."

"You," Sakura smirked and walked up to Sasori, "Have some dust…" she reached up into his bangs, "In your hair."

Sasori crossed his eyes to inspect the piece of dirt that she had between her fingers, "I can see that."

Sakura laughed and took Sasori's hand, "Help me out okay? And then we'll all eat," Sakura chirped as she walked into the corner of the kitchen and pulled out a large tray.

"You're spoiling the giant shark," Sasori stated as he retrieved the plate of crabs from her.

"Man I knew something was missing," Kisame grinned as Sasori placed the large dish on the table. Sakura laughed and sat down beside Sasori with a bucket to throw the shells in.

Itachi was nibbling on one of the onigiri when he turned his eyes to her, "Tonight Sakura, there is a place in the forest that we would like to show you. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

"Yeah, that place," Deidara grinned and nodded his head. He dropped his arm on her shoulder, "Just so you know, I was the awesome person who found the place so praise me, yeah."

"Don't lie," Itachi stated.

Deidara frowned, "You're no fun, yeah."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked as she looked around at the four men. Kisame actually looked uncomfortable for once as he went through three crabs.

"You'll see when we show it to you," Sasori stated. Sakura nodded with a tilt of her head.

_Blossoms_

'It has to be some sort of cosmic irony,' Sakura thought as she stood in the middle of the grove. The huge assortment of sakura trees surrounded her as the four men flocked her sides. She looked up at the bloomed flowers that were gently swaying in the wind. Some of the petals were already falling off of the branches and dancing in the wind. A couple fell into her hair and she grabbed one out of the air with her fingers. "This is beautiful," Sakura murmured gently, trying to not make any eye contact with the sword wielder. She wasn't lying, but she wasn't particularly delighted.

"We found it a while ago, the blossoms were just buds then," Itachi stated as he walked towards one of the trees and plucked a pink blossom from its branches. He twirled it slowly between his fingers. "We waited for them to bloom before showing them to you. We watched the blossoms bloom, tended to their care and now they are at their strongest and most beautiful."

Sasori had a distinctly annoyed scowl on his face as he glared at Itachi and Deidara chuckled and smacked Sasori on the back. That led to Sasori elbowing Deidara and the explosives user only laughing more. Itachi had not been looking at the blossoms when he had spoken.

"I can't believe I would have missed something like this," Sakura stated as she looked around once again. She sighed as her thoughts began to crowd her mind along with the events of just earlier that day.

Silence played around the five as the wind continued to blow over the many trees that harbored the pink blossoms. The casting light of the sunset played with all the colors of the forest making the simple scene feel so much more alive. Sakura closed her eyes as she thought about the fleeting beauty that surrounded her and took in a deep breath. She was surprised when she felt herself choke on something like a sob.

When she opened her eyes again she noticed that Sasori had strayed to the other side of the grove, sitting under one of the trees waiting for her. Itachi was still standing far away observing the one blossom in his hands and Deidara was quickly inspecting every tree while still trying to hold back a laugh. Sakura grinned and shouted with a wave as she skidded to his side and gave him a large hug, "Thank you Deidara."

Deidara only laughed more and patted her head as both Itachi's and Sasori's heads both shot up to glare at him. "Your welcome Sakura, yeah!" Sakura giggled and backed away as Deidara plopped to the ground with a grunt and laid his head down on his crossed arms.

Kisame still stood beside her, his back facing away. He only spoke when a loud gust of wind passed by, "I'll do it. Let us fight the good fight."

Sakura gave a small smile as she walked to where Sasori was waiting for her, "Thank you."

The petals on the cherry blossoms continued to fall, surrounding her in their brilliance and then they danced away with the wind, dying as they fell.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"You mean to tell me that you woke me up, this early in the morning when we DON'T have a mission."

"We're going on a date."

"What?"

"Don't let the fact that you are courting a mastermind phase you."

"I said don't get jealous, jeez. You're such a man."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

I loved this chapter to bits and pieces. Keeping Kisame and Sakura in character was a lot easier than suspected for their interaction and the adding on from the first draft was a breeze unlike the last chapter.

It is official though, this story will have about 30 chapters give or take two chapters. I can't believe that I'm more than 2/3 done, this is amazing.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to reply to most of the reviews that I got for chapter 19, that was due to the fact that all of my links expired XD. I hope you guys keep on enjoying this until the very end!


	22. Jealousy

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 22: Jealousy

"Sakura, wake up…"

Sakura registered the voice and the incessant, impatient prodding at her shoulder blade but decided that it wasn't an action worth reacting positively to before rolling around and snuggling up against the cold wall. She also resisted the urge to giggle sleepily when she thought about how much such a simple action such as poking emulated the man standing beside her.

"You will obey me…"

Sakura snorted and flicked his poking finger away from her shoulder. "No," she mumbled as she grabbed the edges of the blanket around her, knowing that the blanket was the next thing he was going to terrorize. She just wanted the warmth of sleep for a little while longer; she wasn't being whiny or spoiled or anything. Nope, not at all.

No other sound or touch followed and Sakura smiled slightly in her dozing, happy that the disrupter had gone away for yet another day or hour or minute… depending. That just proved how sleepy she actually was, alarm bells normally would have instantly gone off. She found out that she had spoken too soon, "SASORI!"

Sakura hurled the cold soaking wet blanket off of her and tumbled off the bed with a loud crash, a nose hitting a hard floor. She picked herself up off the ground and sat on her butt groaning and while trying to wring the ice water out of her hair with one hand. The other hand was healing the broken bridge of her nose all while glaring at the puppet master who stood over her with a delighted smirk on his face. She had never seen the man so damn happy. She hated it. "I did command you to wake up, you simply just did not heed my warning."

"Saying it once is NOT a warning," Sakura growled and stood up. Sasori jerked back only slightly enough so that only she, with her twisted admiration for him, would notice. A smirk spread on her face, she stomped up to him and shoved her face into his. Once again he flinched with the nearly unnoticeable jerk in his movements. Sakura had never been more proud of herself for not wanting to break his arm like he probably thought that she would. She shook her head like a dog and grinned when she noticed that Sasori had been too late to raise his arms to cover himself from the on coming splatter.

"Enough of a warning is what I believe, would you not agree?" Sasori continued to say with an ever-present smirk on his face. He was the only man on the face of the earth who could still look so refined while wiping water off his face. "I should have tried that technique much sooner, it seems as though you are also fully alert for once and there is this endearing side effect of turning you into a bird nest-dog hybrid."

Sakura sneered at him unpleasantly as she marched into the washroom and looked into the mirror. She saw her reflection and shrieked, 'Why the hell is he always right?' She slammed the door closed but Sasori continued to chuckle when he heard her scream through the wood, "Don't you dare blame me if my shower takes longer than one hour!" Deidara could be heard groaning from the other side of the washroom doors. Three thunks were heard before Sasori heard the other bathroom door open with a loud bang.

"Ow, you woke me up first yeah!" Deidara whined as the three things he had chucked at the door were thrown back at his head.

"Big baby!" Sakura screamed and stuck out her tongue.

"Who's the baby, yeah?"

Grinning once again Sasori took his place at the desk, sitting in his old wooden chair. He smirked and leaned back on the sturdy structure congratulating himself on a job well done. Not only had he annoyed Sakura, the side affect of a bothered Deidara was like finding the perfect specimen for a perfect puppet.

For once in a very long time there was nothing sitting at Sasori's workstation, he had made all the repairs that he had needed to make on the Sandiame Kazekage and his precious puppet was once again neatly stored inside one of his scrolls just waiting to wreck havoc and destruction on the next unsuspecting soul.

Contrary to Sakura's threat she had merely taken thirty minutes inside the shower was what Sasori noted delightedly as he heard the door click and the creek of the hinges open. He raised an eyebrow to accompany his smirk as she marched out, fully awake and still apparently furious at him. "Your grudges do hold very well indeed; it is most pleasing," Sasori stated as he waved his arm at her stiff form that was literally radiating large waves of anger. He didn't feel too threatened by the climactic aura.

"You know, I hate being woken up like that," Sakura muttered darkly as she continued to storm around the room like a little child. She pulled open his closet with a loud bang and Sasori wondered if Itachi would get angry if she managed to destroy all the furniture in the house today.

"Probably not, he seems to be quite lenient when it comes to her…" Sasori whispered to himself bitterly. He noted that she was still rambling on about the reasons why he should never have woken her up the way that he had and decided it would probably be wise to listen to what she had to say lest he wished for more ear biting later on.

"Kakashi-sensei used to do that to wake us up in the morning during our stupid D-rank missions in the forest, it just gives me these terrible memories of his crap and what not. There was just this once when he decided to pour cold water all over my front not knowing that my panties were cotton and it just so happened that it was during that time of the…"

"I sincerely do not need to know about this…" Sasori stated as he watched Sakura try to hide her smirk, "Ah purposeful manipulation of language, I am proud of you."

"You were listening, I'm so proud of you Sasori-kun!" Sakura looked up at him with cheery eyes, and a straight mouth that was obviously trying to hide away a bursting smile. Her cheeks were flushed pink as though she were very pleased with his compliment. He noted that her moods were no less volatile than usual and smirked almost serenely at the thought. It had taken merely one phrase to flip her emotions, the usual it seemed.

She had come back to him unconscious again yesterday evening and he often worried that her training with Itachi would change her redeeming personality. Though, he would never admit that he favored her volatile nature, the sword wielder and his partner would never shut up about it. "I'm learning only from the two best," Sakura stated as an after thought as she rustled through the closet.

"Kisame will be disappointed that there is no longer another loud mouthed, speak all, know all person to accompany him within this house hold," Sasori chuckled and quickly moved out of the way of the flying cloak that was coming at him. "Should I question why you are pulling out our Akatsuki garments?"

Sakura paused and turned to him slowly, almost robotic like, "You mean to tell me that you woke me up, this early in the morning when we DON'T have a mission." And the angry waves were back, her hair even stood on end this time around.

"Do I look dressed for a mission?" Sasori asked with a raise of his eyebrow. Sakura promptly looked him up and down and he was pleased when her cheeks tinged a faint pink. He was glad that he had kept his eighteen-year-old body when he had turned himself into a puppet.

"Civilian clothes…" Sakura stated evenly as she brought her eyes back up to his face and blushed even further when she saw his knowing look, "Don't be so cocky, I'm sure that… that… every other shinobi looks just as good as you do!" Sakura squeaked in the midst of trying to yell at him. The effect was not as she had planned considering that she was still a brilliant cherry red. She knew that she had in no doubt, lost this battle of pride.

Sasori approached her slowly as her eyes shifted all over the room trying to look at everything but him. He only minutely registered the fact that he was unhappy now that she wasn't looking at only him.

Sasori gave a smirked as he watched her take on the guise of a cornered animal with her tensed muscles and her sorely bitten lip. He deliberately took her in his arms and she breathed out a long sigh as she felt his touch envelope her. As monstrous as the girl before him was, she was still very much a girl who had only wanted to be unconditionally loved. He waited as she relaxed, clutched tightly onto his navy blue shirt and buried her nose into the crook of his shoulder. "I think you look beautiful too."

Sakura reeled back with a look of amazement in her green eyes as she regarded his brown ones, "I thought you thought that I looked decent."

"Decent is good as well. Would you rather I call you decent?" Sasori asked with a raised eyebrow, he really didn't understand the woman that was standing in front of him. He didn't understand women period, before the pink haired bulldozer he had met and killed all but one woman.

Sakura giggled and shook her head, "No stick with beautiful, it's a lot… better."

"Indeed," Sasori stated as he watched her lips tug into a smile, 'I would always call her beautiful if it got her to smile like that at him all the time,' Sasori thought. It was then that he attempted to glare at himself for being so… human. He pretended and refused to acknowledge the fact that he had just produced such an awful thought. He leaned down slightly and brushed his lips against her for a swift but meaningful kiss, "You must be wondering why I have roused you so early in the morning then."

"All thoughts have just kind of been blasted out of my head," Sakura replied with a dopey smile as she leaned her head back on his chest. She couldn't say that he emanated warmth, not like those old romance books sitting on her shelf at home described it as, but he emanated the raw presence of a master, a killer and that was all that mattered to her.

"Tragic, and I really thought that we had pulled you away from the likes of Kisame, at least now I know that the effort will forever be in vain," Sasori stated calmly a smirk pulling at the edges of his lips. Sakura smacked her hand on his arm and growled at him.

"Stop trying to be funny, you're not funny," Sakura muttered.

"I find him absolutely hilarious," Itachi stated as he walked past the room. Sakura screeched and pushed Sasori away from her in a panic at the sudden and unexpected voice.

Sakura had managed to fling herself backwards and land on the floor with a loud crash and a sore butt. "Itai," Sakura mumbled as she rubbed her hind side. She looked back up at Sasori who was still standing, with his arms crossed and the funniest stare upon his face. "Stop doing that! That sneaky thing you always do!"

"I sadly cannot stop being myself," Itachi replied curtly and with a triumphant nod before disappearing down the hallway.

In the next moment Sasori rolled his eyes and reached his hand out to help her up, he was almost scowling at her now and his Sasori like tendencies were escalating quickly, "You did not have to react that drastically to Itachi seeing us being… intimate. We were not even being particularly so…"

"S-sorry, we've just… I mean I'm not used to public displays of affection, I mean I think they're really cute when other people do it… sometimes but… but it's just so embarrassing," Sakura squeaked as she took his hand, "especially with Itachi considering that he's Uchiha… Itachi…"… 'Uchiha Sasuke's brother.' Her smile was apologetic and her cheeks were once again stained pink in an embarrassment that wasn't that of which she spoke of. "I'm not ashamed of us or anything, I'm not. Don't give me that stupid look!" It was true, she wasn't ashamed of them; she was only ashamed of herself.

"Sakura…" At least he was still gentle when he had pulled her up.

"Sasori… nothing is happening between Itachi and I. We train a lot together; he's the one out of everyone else that has the most similarities to my skill set…" 'to the boy I loved in my past' "…so I would think it would be natural. There is no one else. No one but you." 'Absolutely no one.'

Sasori stayed silent as he regarded her with his eyes. He looked away and heard Sakura take in a breath and reach her hand towards him. He spoke before she could touch him, "Say no more, I understand."

Sakura smiled, "Good." She walked closer to him and hugged him tightly around the torso, "I'm sorry if my actions sometimes communicate something else, but you should know by now that I rarely think before I do something."

"Indeed."

Sakura giggled, "Sasori jealous, I'm never going to be able to get used to this you know."

"It will happen often."

"I know." Sakura laughed, "Will this help then?" Sakura asked and stood on her tippy toes to reach his lips. She gently pressed his to her own before he took control and deepened the kiss. Her automatic surge of chakra flowed into him and he sighed in contentment.

"Get a room, yeah!" Deidara teased as he walked past the room just as Itachi had. The next thing Sakura knew, something hit her in the back of her head.

"Deidara!"

The man skipped away cackling about sweet revenge.

Sakura threw the closest thing she could find at the blonde's head. Deidara was one hundred percent prepared for the counter attack and dodged, allowing for item to put a large dent in the wall. "Now Itachi will also be mad at you, yeah! Score two for the master!"

"Go away!" Sasori's eye twitched slightly expecting the oncoming shove but he smiled at her next words, "Also we're already in a room you dunderhead!" She smiled back up at Sasori and although her words had tried to communicate that she wasn't embarrassed the continually reddening flesh gave her away, "S-see, Sakura good?"

"Indeed," Sasori said and gave her another smirk, "But we should get going now before another hit to the head makes you speak in third person permanently." He took her hand and pulled her out of the bedroom and down the hall as she pouted and continually smacked him on the arm. They walked past the living area where Deidara gave them a thumb up and Kisame scoffed in amusement. Itachi was immersed within another book but Sakura knew she would get a good talking to about the wall later on in the day.

"Where are we going anyway Sasori?"

"We'll be back later tonight."

"It better be before dinner! I want my food."

"There are no assurances."

"Sasori, where are we going?" Sakura whined.

"You'll see." Sasori tugged on his shoes and glanced at the pout Sakura held on her lips as she tugged on her own sandals.

"I'll be home later!" Sakura shouted down the hallway.

Itachi walked out of the living area and nodded at the both of them, "Do not get into any trouble and do not do anything unwise to get noticed Sasori."

Sasori regarded him, "We will try not to."

"I have my doubts considering your abysmal plan. Have fun Sakura."

"Even you know what we're doing," Sakura whined and looked over at Sasori, "Why does Itachi know what we're doing and I don't even know we're doing. I think this is unfair."

Itachi let a small smile grace his lips before he reentered the living area with an all-knowing wave of his hand. Sasori rolled his eyes at her as he opened the front door; she had stuck her bottom lip even farther out from her mouth. "He knows because it is simply obvious to everyone but you, and I mean even Kisame knows, what we will be doing."

"Hey, are you saying I'm as stupid as guppy?"

"I am saying that you are worse."

Sakura scowled, "So what are we doing oh high and mighty Sasori-sama?"

Sasori rolled his eyes again, she knew he didn't like it when she called him that, "We're going on a date."

Sakura blinked once and then she blinked twice. She tilted her head to the side and blinked again, "…what?"

_Jealousy_

"So let me get this straight… the Akatsuki take girls out on dates."

"I thought you got over your 'the Akatsuki do this' phase a couple months ago," Sasori replied as the walked down the street. The man didn't even have the gall to be mortified by the fact that he was dragging her on… a date. He was part of the Akatsuki damn it!

"No, no, no, this is totally different, the Akatsuki court people like the old folks of Konoha at most. Gifts… excessive killing… heads on platters, not dates. Like you seriously go on dates? People like Ino-pig go on freaking dates!" Sakura iterated making huge hand motions to communicate her point to the puppet master in front of her.

"I have mentioned before that there is a female in our organization and she is strong enough to have her types of influence," Sasori uttered as he watched the girl beside him make a big deal out of the fact that they were all basically human, though he did have to admit, giving her a head on a platter would have been more satisfying. That… and the fact that the female member of Akatsuki petitioning for dates was the must absurd thing he could have come up with as an excuse for his quote on quote, 'abysmal plan'.

Sakura gapped slightly before two of Sasori's fingers shut her jaw, "Oh… I see?"

"You will catch flies like that. Do not get the wrong idea, I am just saying that we are not beasts and we recognize gender, so yes the Akatsuki do court other beings without having to spill a drop of blood. Not often, I will clarify, but it happens."

Sakura nodded and turned to face forward. She trailed her eyes over the horizon before turning her eyes towards her feet, finding the dirt flying around her shoes incredibly interesting, "So where are you taking me on our… err… date?"

"I was originally going to take you back to the cherry tree grove…"

"Oh…"

"But it is apparent that you are not as delighted by it as all of us suspected that you would have been, so I have made different arrangements."

Sakura beamed, she was glad that Itachi and Sasori were so interpretive, she didn't think she could go back to that place for a second time without somehow bursting out into a myriad of tears and then having to come up with some nonsensical explanation for the sudden display of emotion. Though she had an inkling of a suspicion that the group would accept any explanation no matter how nonsensical. She didn't know what that said about them or more importantly, what that said about her. "You still haven't answered my question you know."

Sasori chuckled, "I do not think I will need to answer your question. I would suggest that you stop walking and look up Sakura."

Sakura blinked and raised her head up to look at the gate that was in front of her. "Huh? A… zoo. The Akatsuki bring girls: one on dates and two to the freaking zoo?" She had to still be sleeping and more importantly, dreaming.

Sasori rolled his eyes and grasped her hand tightly in his, "I do not care very much about animals or the like. But you like rabbits…"

"How did you know?"

"Itachi mentioned it at some point. Anyways, I have no interest but you would surely like this place, am I correct?"

Sakura blinked, "I love zoos, but this is really weird…"

"Do not let the fact that you are courting a mastermind phase you."

"Aren't you the humble one?"

"Yes, indeed I am. Now come on… we should get going before the myriad of little children come."

"Oh, that's why we're at the zoo at the ridiculous time of seven in the morning, is this place even open. Wait… will you kill the kids when they do come?"

"Indeed."

"Right… I can see this turning out really well already."

_Jealousy_

Sasori glared at Sakura as she chomped through another dumpling at a little teahouse they had ended up at and she smiled up at him showing all her teeth, "Stop looking at me like that, you know that some people would tell you that that look is really scary. Me being one of them."

"I am absolutely delighted that my eyes have the ability to terrify people."

"I told you… it was too weird going into the zoo with you."

"You did not have to stir up such a huge ruckus in order for you to drag me away. I was only trying to be civil by courting you. The civilian at the ticket booth probably incorrectly suspects that you have me wrapped around your tiny little pinky finger and that is not a pleasing thought. Itachi gave his warning to the wrong person."

"I do have you wrapped around my finger," Sakura stated and winked at him. She was met with an expressionless gaze. Feeling a little bit deflated that he didn't even humor her with a retort she mumbled while taking a sip of her hot green tea, "You looked like you were going to murder her for charging admission and then murder the family with the screaming baby next, I couldn't let you in. All my effort in saving the animals would have been wasted if something even snorted at you."

"That risk is simply something that you must live with."

"Then take me out to dinner or something. I promise I won't complain, even if you take me to a snazzy place, just as long as you don't kill innocent people. You know, you could also… not take me out to dates anymore…"

"I would have thought a city girl, like you, would have liked to go on dates that did not involve just simple nourishment. You know that dinner is out of the question, removing you from the establishment at that time is just begging for a headache."

"Normally yes I do like going to zoos and to movies and all of that kind of stuff with my girl friends, but with you, not quite. Again, going to a zoo, where there are fluffy animals, with you is way too weird. But anyways, who am I to say what a real date is supposed to be like. I've never even been on a date before, you could have taken me to an evil lord's compound to eradicate a whole battalion and I probably would have thought it was a fine date. Then again, I think that would have been a better idea," Sakura laughed as she popped another dumpling into her mouth and grinned at him, "Zoos and movies are more like the old me anyhow."

"You have never been on a date?"

"Nope. My last 'love' was Sasuke and considering that I'm sitting right here right now talking to you, it's a given that that did not work out so well, neh?" Sakura stated waving her chopsticks around in the air, "Why are you grinning? It's creepy, stop it. Wait… for a second I forgot who I was talking to. Why are you grinning?"

"Nothing."

"Don't be so smug that I don't call him Sasuke-kun anymore. It wasn't for you."

"I do not become smug, woman."

"Tch, yah right," Sakura laughed and leaned over the table while shoving a dumpling into his mouth, "Eat!"

Sasori rolled his eyes then glared at her while slowly chewing through the dumpling in his mouth. "That does remind me, your deadline… it is quickly approaching. You will have to face these people once again. Have you thought through what your course of action will be?"

Sakura paused in the dipping of her dumpling into the sauce and bit her bottom lip, "I have everything organized and ready," she whispered and nibbled on the edges of her food while avoiding all eye contact.

Sasori raised an eyebrow, "I have yet to hear about these plans. Am I in any way going to be involved?"

Sakura paused for a moment and slowly turned her eyes to him, "No, no you're not."

"Is that so…?"

"Kisame has already agreed to help me," Sakura whispered and upon seeing Sasori's eyes narrow she continued her explanation quickly before he once again descended into his quirky personality, "Don't get jealous or anything, I chose Kisame for very specific purposes."

"I can understand why you wouldn't choose Itachi for this particular confrontation but by no means do I understand why Kisame."

Sakura sighed, "Deidara is lobbed off because I want someone who does close combat… and you know, Deidara is Deidara."

"I do close combat."

"I said don't get jealous, jeez. You're such a man."

"I remember you stating that when you first met me, I am sure that that particular attribute still has not changed. Continue you explanation," Sasori demanded his arms once again crossed.

Sakura smiled weakly at him, "Because Sasori, it's as simple as I'm in a relationship with you. Don't you understand? One of the things that held me back in the past was my crazy infatuation with Sasuke. If it were to be somehow revealed that I was once again in an intimate relationship where my emotions were on the line and not just my skills then all will be lost for me instantly. I don't want that, I want them to see how I've grown without any of them around to help me, I want them to see just exactly what they have lost and I want them to see that I'm here because I was chosen to be, not because I'm once again dog tailing someone I just happen to find incredibly attractive."

Sasori stayed silent as he watched the emotions play over her eyes. He smirked slightly as she once again manipulated language to make him feel superior. "Alright, I will accept that explanation," he mumbled though slightly reluctantly, "However, two idiots working together only lends to more idiodicy."

Sakura had nothing to reply to that. It was one thing that she was slightly worried about, but Kisame had always been and would always be serious about the fight. "I know…"

Sasori shook his head and leaned forward over the table to run his fingers through the locks of her hair before pushing them behind her ears, "You need a hair cut."

Sakura bubbled with laughter and she leaned closer over the table as well, "Maybe… do you want to head home then?"

"Indeed."

"Indeed!"

"Indeed."

"_Indeed_."

"Stop mocking me woman."

Sakura laughed, "Indeed."

_Jealousy_

"Sasori?" Sakura hummed as she sat in his old wooden chair while staring in the mirror in front of her while he worked with her pink locks. The systematic tug, pull and the sound of the cut soothed her greatly and she remembered why she had enjoyed the last two times so very much.

"Yes Sakura?" he replied, his voice smooth and calm with what seemed to be the same kind of contentment.

"On second thought, don't ever try to take me on a date again," Sakura murmured with a laugh and continued before he could interrupt her, "I know that you aren't comfortable with such ridiculous actions and I don't want you to do something so ludicrous just for me. I mean honestly, right now both you and I are having more fun cutting my hair than we had trying to even step into the zoo."

"The cutting of your hair is not something to be put lightly. I normally do not even do this with my puppets." His voice had grown ever so slightly defensive as pink strands drifted to the floor.

"I never pegged you for a hair stylist anyways."

"I am glad."

Sakura smiled as another lock was gently pulled and sheared, "No. I think that the feelings girls are supposed to get during a date are the feelings I already get when I'm with you each and every day. Like now for example while you're just simply cutting my hair, but I could also be fighting with you on the field, bathing in blood and as long as you were near I'd be content. I could just hear your voice and I'd be content. When we sleep together at night and the window whistles through OUR window and into OUR bedroom I could think that there is nothing out there that is better than this."

And although Sakura would never voice it out loud, she wondered if she would have felt the same kind of happiness if it had been Sasuke standing behind her rather than Sasori. Her eyes darkened and she shook the thought away not even daring to wonder where it had come from.

"Sakura…"

Sakura turned around in her chair and regarded him with a smile, "Lying beside you every night makes me the happiest person currently living Sasori. I don't need anything else from you and I'm sure you don't need anything else from me either. For once in my life I'm not asking what if or wondering what it would be like if I was stronger. You might not be everything in my life, but you are what is now and that is all I need."

"Indeed."

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Sasuke-teme and I have been training ever since for what we know is to come!"

"And what is coming?"

"Sakura-chan is coming home."

"We have had no contact with her for almost a year now, for all we know she could be dead…"

"Seven lives are more important than one, shut up Naruto. Even if she is my student, the village must come before personal ties… at least it must for me."

"That's cute, dedicating a lethal poison color to the eye color of a girl."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

This chapter is just a whole bunch of silly, but it is the last bit of silly for this whole entire story. From here on out... it gets dark and intense. Also there will be a poll if you want an epilogue!

And yes... I'm not dead, though I have to say that I'm so sorry for not updating for almost two months -. I'm a terrible person, I know, but I'm not gone!

Also, I won't be able to reply to all of your guys reviews anymore simply because I hate the new review system. It sucks... alot... and I hate it, but I love all of you guys so please keep them coming. I'll reply if you have questions or the like. Thank you.


	23. Preparation

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 23: Preparations

Blood suddenly splattered onto the walls as the image of his brother was suddenly superimposed on his own and Sasuke reeled back in shock. Itachi smirked and cackled before he disappeared from his little brother's reflection and Sasuke blinked in fury. His heartbeat pulsed within his body as he took in a deep breath, clenched his teeth and turned away from the reflection. He was glad that his form nearly melded into the darkness except for his distinct eyes. That way he could make himself believe that his eyes were the only thing that resembled that of his brother's. Nothing else.

Sasuke walked back toward his bed and picked up the armor the Hokage had distributed to their team just days before and clasped the grey arm guards over his long black gloves. Nothing about him resembled his brother, but he still didn't dare look back at his reflection.

After the Anbu garb had been fully adorned, the corner of his eyes accidently cause the reflection of himself in the mirror and hissed he at the person that appeared before him. All he could see was his older brother, Itachi, and he detested every moment of it. Denial was a tragedy of its own when it was ultimately broken. Taking quick and long strides he appeared again before the reflective surface and shattered it with his clenched fist.

The glass fell down to the floor with sharp echoing sounds and surrounded his feet in a glittering, taunting haze. He slowly breathed in through his nose as he realized that if he were to look down, there would be even more than just one haunting appearing before him. Angry and spiteful he used his chakra to grind the glass into dust before setting the room into flames as he walked out.

Satisfied that his work had finally been done, Sasuke could not help but notice the two missing things that made the Anbu armor incomplete; the swirling red tattoo that was to have adorned his bicep and the mask that was supposed to have covered his face. Tsunade had had good reason to give them the armor, it meant that no one was to disrupt them on their mission and that they were under direct care of the Hokage, any sabotage, any attack, that was made on the team would literally mean a death sentence from the hidden village in the leaves.

Otherwise the whole get up was just a folly and Sasuke wished that he had truly deserved the garments or never had to adorn them at all. His brother had after all received them fully at a much younger age. Sasuke put his fist through the wall before marching on.

He slinked towards the door that separated the hallway and the courtyard and closed it gently behind him. The Uchiha compound was deserted as it often and always was, but Sasuke had learned long ago not to care. He had also learned long ago that it was useless to imagine a warm caring presence tending to the vicinity no matter how much he saw those brilliant colors. He would get rid of the house the moment that the mission was over and the last teammate was back within the walls of the city again. He would get a new house then; one where two people could easily live and someday create a family. Those colors, pink and green, would be around him every day for the rest of his life if he could help it… after all they were haunting him and he had given up trying to understand why and trying to explain them away.

He wanted her and even if he didn't want her like that when she came back, like he knew he would, he would always want her to be by his side. He wanted her as a constant, as a girl that would in some way always love him, always call him 'Sasuke-kun'.

He exited the gate that had the large Uchiha fan hanging over it and walked the nearly deserted road into the city. People began appearing slowly as he came closer and closer to the center of the village. Sasuke braced himself to see her floating in the crowd.

Sasuke allowed for himself to smile or smirk… or to some people grimace at the civilians that were out and about and nod in respect to the shinobi that he recognized passing here and there. The year that he had had within the village after his two-year excursion with Kakashi-sensei had been the best year of his life. For once he didn't look at his village and only feel the hate for his brother surging through his veins, but saw the village, as it was, a place of belonging for all the people. He saw it the way that Naruto had eventually seen it. And although at times the feeling intensified his agony when he was within his own home, he thought that he would probably not exchange this 'Naruto' like feeling for the world. He now enjoyed the company of others, but he would be damned before he would say it out loud. Sasuke would revel in the simple feeling of walking the busy streets with all the civilians bustling around and smiling back at his awkwardness.

However, the moment that it became impossible to walk without obstruction he took to the rooftops and raced towards the Hokage tower. It was almost time and they were all to convene in preparation. Sasuke was even sure that his chronically late sensei would even show up on time for something as important as this.

_Preparations_

Naruto slurped down another bowl of ramen before slamming it on the table in a delighted daze. "Another one!" Naruto shouted and gestured frantically at his empty bowl, after a little bit of after thought Naruto added in an even louder, "Please!" His grin spread across his cheeks reverently and his whole entire face was flushed with happiness.

The owner of Ichiraku Ramen merely chuckled and shook his head, "No need to say please, you are my best customer," he stated with his booming voice and handed Naruto another steaming bowl of his favorite noodles before taking away the fifth empty dish the boy had left for him that morning, "And I am used to you always acting with the tendencies of an innocent kid."

"Thank you, thank you," Naruto grinned and picked up his chopsticks to start yet another feast. He paused after a moment and eyed the owner, "That was a compliment right?"

"For a shinobi of your experience and caliber, what else can it be? Anyways, what's got you so excited today?" The man asked as he turned around and prepared for the order that he knew was going to come within the next five minutes.

Naruto laughed and placed his chopsticks down on the counter for several seconds before once again rethinking his actions and picking them back up, "Today is a very important day," Naruto stated and gulped down nearly half the bowl of ramen.

"Does it have anything to do with the new clothing you have been wearing recently?"

Naruto grinned through his food, "You noticed? Well of course you notice, I come here every time I'm done training. Oh right, and I'm also going to be the next Hokage, you can't forget that part!" The owner chuckled. "Tsunade-baa gave me these really cool clothes a couple days ago and told me I needed to get used to fighting in them. Sasuke-teme and I have been training ever since for what we know is to come!"

"And what is coming?"

"Sakura-chan is coming home," Naruto declared with a grin on his face and slurped down the remaining contents of his bowl. Before he could ask for another than old man had already placed the steaming contents right before him. Naruto nodded enthusiastically communicating his appreciation as he picked away at the newly boiled and perfectly cooked noodles. Naruto ate this bowl slowly as his eyes glazed over slowly. Memories of Sakura flooded into his head. 'Sakura-chan is coming home,' he couldn't get enough of that phrase.

"The pink haired girl that used to come by all the time. She has been gone for quite a while hasn't she?"

Naruto snapped out of his trance and nodded again before speeding back up his food intake. The old man knew that this was the blonde's last bowl for this particular session and therefore relaxed and gave the boy he had watched grow into a man, reply. "Yah, yah Sakura-chan. She's been gone for a really long time and now we are all going to bring her back. Only two more weeks but we're getting ready right now, so many things to do and we want to make sure that she gets home safe!"

"I see."

Naruto nodded again before his head shot up and his body turned rigid, "Preparation…" he muttered before he nearly burst from his chair, "Shoot! I have a meeting with Kakashi-sensei and teme," Naruto cried and ran out of the restaurant. The old man tapped his fingers two times before the energetic shinobi burst back into the stand. He was rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, "How much do I owe you?"

"You know what? Considering the occasion and how long you've been a loyal customer to me, it's on the house today. Only for today though, I don't want to go out of business."

Naruto beamed at the man and he couldn't help but compare the boy to pure sunshine, "Thank you."

Clouds of dust formed leading from the ramen stand and up towards the Hokage tower. The old man shook his head and laughed, it seemed as though the boy would never change… and that made him happy.

_Preparations_

Kakashi hadn't worn the garment for nearly a decade and he found that his old armor had fit him exactly as it had long ago. He was the only one that had the full ensemble, the tattoo and the mask, an ever-lasting reminder of the past that he would never desire to forget and always yearn to change.

Kakashi ran his gloved fingers gently over the scar on his eye and blinked slowly. There were still at least three more hours until the designated time for the meeting but Kakashi for once desired not to be late. He pulled on the headband and his mask, leaving the old Anbu mask on his dresser. This wasn't the occasion for a mask, in no way did he want to seem disconnected to the goal that every single one of them had in mind. Disconnection had after been what had torn his team apart and he wasn't planning on ignoring his mistakes this time.

So with that thought in mind the man had left from his window fully clothed and descended upon his village, the village that he loved more than anything else in the world, and ran to one of the monuments that signified everything that was good about Konoha. He bypassed the large crowds of civilians on his way to cenotaph and he believed that leaving three hours earlier than usual would give him enough leverage to lose track of time and yet arrive punctually for the meeting that he knew meant more to everyone than they were willing to admit. Well except for Naruto, that boy had never held anything back his whole life.

Kakashi jumped into the trees that surrounded the monument and was out of the growth within seconds. He slowed down his pace when he could see the cenotaph with his own eyes. He smiled slightly under his mask and got close enough to the monument to touch the cold stone with his fingers. The characters of their names popped out to him and he knew that even blind he would be able to find them instantly with the tips of his fingers.

"Obito… Rin…" he whispered. It was his customary greeting and he knew it meant more than any other salutation in the whole entire world. Their names spoke volumes and for the rest of his life he would never be able to forget about them. "How are you?"

They could never answer his questions, of course, but he delighted himself in the fact that they would forever remain the same. Obito with his unyielding love and energy so much like his blonde protégé and Rin with all her sunny warmth and caring eyes. "Today is the start…" Kakashi murmured and took his hand off the stone for a moment and backed away. He wanted to reflexively shove his hands into his pockets, but that was impossible now considering his clothing.

"We're going to get her back," Kakashi stated loud and clearly, he was more determined in this than anything else in his whole entire life. "We are going to get her back and show her exactly what she means to each and every single person in this whole entire village." It was something that he had been unable to do for both of his comrades and his own sensei.

Silence followed his statement, he knew there was no one to reply to his standoffish statement but at the same time he knew that Obito and Rin would be cheering him on like they always had. "I'm not going to lose another one, I'm not going to bury another one that is close to me," Kakashi stated and closed his eyes, "Too many people… Right Asuma?" The name was too new for him to find it off the top of his head, but it was there and it haunted him.

He almost smelt the familiar scent of the cigarette waft into his nostrils, "Your baby boy is delightful. He kind of bothers his mother a lot, but all kids are fussy like that. He looks a lot like you, you know? You would be so proud of him. Your students are taking care of him too, you don't need to worry about Kurenai being alone, you will never need to worry about how much love your son will have. Asuma, you shouldn't have been the one to go, but greater men than the both of us have met their end have they not?" He thought about Minato.

Silence was once again the only reply that he received, Kakashi breathed out a loud sigh and blinked. "Take care of yourselves where ever you are," Kakashi muttered and turned away from the monument. He looked up to the sun and calculated the change in angle, it appeared that he had once again lost track of time but he was not late. Brilliant man he was.

He dashed away from the cenotaph without looking back. He was just glad that everything was still okay. Asuma's name was indeed, still the last name on the long list of the fallen good.

He was back within the busy city in moments and placed himself on the roofs of the buildings. He raced towards the tallest structure in the village and landed before the giant door. He wondered if long ago Sakura had stood before these doors setting her mind on making something out of her life. Kakashi shook his head, "Of course she had, she likes using doors…"

Kakashi pushed through the large entrance and walked through the reception area noting all the stares that he was getting from the various people who knew him and his habits. It had been a long time since he had adorned any of his Anbu attire. He didn't join his students in the conditioning of the garments, he remembered exactly what it felt like to fight and kill in the efficient clothes and would never ever forget.

Coming up to the desk Shizune was seated at, he smiled at the glowing woman, "How is the kid doing?"

Shizune looked up at him with shock and blushed scarlet, she had only started to show a couple weeks ago, "The baby is doing well! Thank you for asking Kakashi. I knew that you noticed, Genma said that you were too err… well that you hadn't."

"I actually meant your sorry excuse for a fiancée," Kakashi grinned knowing that his good friend was lurking around the place.

Shizune turned a scarlet once again but managed to laugh loudly as Genma stumbled out from under the table she was sitting at. "Who's the kid Hatake? And the word I used Shizune was 'prick', he's too much of a 'prick' to acknowledge my accomplishments," Genma playfully snapped at silver-haired man.

Kakashi simply gave his signature eye crinkle before pointing his thumb at the door, "Are they both there already?"

"All three of them are going to get a heart attack for you showing up on time," Shizune mumbled with a smile playing on her lips, "It's almost like how Tsunade hasn't drunken a single bottle of sake yet today... oh I hope…"

Kakashi shrugged, "It was bound to happen one day. Anyways, continue on with your activities," he smirked and opened the door to the Hokage's office. He noted that Shizune had burst into a delightful red color as Genma playfully ran his hand over her thigh.

"Hatake, you actually cared to show up on time," Tsunade stated with a raised eyebrow and a smile on her face. She was sitting in her chair, the back facing the window and her chin rested on her interlaced fingers, "I'm glad that our student means so much to you." Her eyes were unglazed; she was only repeating her own sentiments.

"Of course she does Hokage-sama," Kakashi stated and took the last empty seat.

"Oi… are you actually Kakashi-sensei," Naruto prodded and poked the man in the arm where his red tattoo lay. Kakashi ignored the blonde student and Naruto took that as a confirmation of identity.

"Two weeks Hokage-sama, until the deadline. Why have you convened us so early?" Kakashi asked.

Tsunade blinked slowly and smiled, "I don't want there to be any mistakes on this mission," she simply stated, "It is of too much importance and there is much to go through."

"So then get started," Sasuke stated his tone nearly devoid of emotion and his eyes once again a coal black.

"Be friendly teme…"

"I am being friendly…"

"Right, nearly devoid… oh jeez."

Tsunade glanced at the two momentarily before turning her eyes back towards the other two men that were sitting in front of her. "Your back up team will be arriving momentarily. We have already discussed their importance and their uses but we have only recently secured exactly who they will be. Because of this, more detail will be handed down to you today and all of information will be extremely important."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Kakashi, you are obviously going to be the leader of this team, but everyone here must listen up. It will take you two days to reach the site where she will meet you; it is the same place that you parted nearly a year ago. You will venture off exactly two days before the time of the meeting, we don't want to be left vulnerable by arriving early and we don't want to be ambushed by arriving late… the timing for this mission is imperative."

"But…"

"And there is a possibility that we will be vulnerable, no it's not a possibility it is guarantee. We have had no contact with Sakura for almost a year now, for all we know she could be dead…"

"Tsunade-baa!"

"Quiet Naruto, we need to survey all possibilities here including the knowledge that they may have succeeded in interrogating her and have received the knowledge of our rescue. Sakura was never aware that were would be a second team, though I don't put it beyond her to deduct that there will be, considering the consequences of the last fight."

"Understood," Sasuke muttered.

"I'm glad you understand Uchiha. In that case your only mission is to arrive safely back home. If they use her dead body to get to you, don't you dare engage them in battle. As much as I would like to bury her in city walls I would rather not bury one than have to bury eight. However, if she is alive you may under any means necessary retrieve her, but remember," Tsunade emphasized this word, "seven lives are more important than one, shut up Naruto. Even if she is my student, the village must come before personal ties… at least it must for _me_."

Naruto grinned, "Is that your approval to defy your orders?"

"Within reason," Kakashi added with a raised eyebrow.

"I have no idea what you are talking about boy, now sit back down and listen carefully to me. It is confirmed that there are four Akatsuki members and three of them you have now been well acquainted with. The last you are not because that was the foe that Sakura had encountered."

"Akasuna no Sasori," Kakashi murmured.

"Indeed. As you are all well aware, he is a poison user and all three of you are useless against that particular attribute. Shizune, for very obvious reasons cannot accompany you and neither can I. Therefore only one of the newly trained poison specialists will be of any help against this particular foe… and she and they have arrived. Come in!"

The door to the Hokage's office opened slowly as Shizune smiled, "Sorry for the interruption Tsunade-sama."

"No matter, let them in."

Kakashi's eye twitched ever so slightly as his rival literally pranced into the room with his former students in tow. "You asked for us Hokage-sama?" Neji asked absolutely ignoring his own sensei as he posed and grinned along with his protégé, Rock Lee.

"Kakashi, my eternal rival! Once again we meet in our everlasting bonds of friendship to do battle against our relentless foes."

"Yes-sensei, our relentless foes," Lee cheered and the teacher and student struck yet another pose.

"Yes, yes, now close the door, we have a lot to discuss."

_Preparations_

"Sakura was WHAT?" Tenten shouted as she stood up from her chair and knocked it backwards. Embarrassed, cheeks flushed pink, she picked the furniture back up and sat down on its hard surface. Shizune had pulled in four extra chairs with Genma's help upon the arrival of Team Gai.

"You heard everything correctly," Tsunade stated calmly, "And you will be the back up team. Remember that you are sworn by oath to keep all you have just heard silent as well."

Neji nodded and snuck a glance at Tenten who clenched her fists slightly, "This is a lot of information to take in Hokage-sama. It seems that you have been planning this for the whole duration Sakura-san has been gone, why are you only selecting us now?" Neji stated and looked back up at Tsunade.

"I know that it is late notice for a mission of this caliber, but out of Ino, Hinata and Tenten, Tenten has shown to be the most versatile against poisons and that has only been deducted recently. If Akasuna no Sasori shows, she would be the best person to counter him and that is why I have chosen your team."

Tenten blushed slightly, "Thank you Hokage-sama for your consideration." Tsunade nodded but looked away almost instantly. Tenten smiled pitifully and looked over to her other teammate in order to comfort herself, "Are you okay Lee?" He was the one person who was probably suffering more than her.

Lee was oddly quiet after the explanation of why Sakura had been missing for nearly a year and Tenten could see that her teammate still adored the pink haired girl, "Poor Sakura-san…" he muttered.

Tsunade looked at him with pity in her eyes before staring up at Neji and Gai, "Are you all up for the task?"

Team Gai nodded their approval. "Yes Hokage-sama!"

"Then everything is set. You will leave the village less than fifteen minutes after the deployment of Team Kakashi. Be careful and if she is alive, bring her back at all costs!"

Seven voices replied, "Yes Hokage-sama!"

_Preparations_

Tenten kicked up the dirt on the road at she strolled back towards her house with Neji by her side. He was stoic as usual but Tenten knew that he felt for her just as she felt for him. It was a comfort that she took for granted every single day of her life. "I can't believe that Sakura had been getting stronger all that time," Tenten laughed, "I remember seeing her three years ago at the Hokage tower. She was so broken then, I should have known that her goal had worked out considering how much happier she got as time went by. People don't change like that because of jobs like paperwork."

"Something else is bothering you."

"I'm wondering why she would have accepted such a haphazard mission if everything had worked out for her in the end, infiltrating the Akatsuki is almost suicide," Tenten stated quietly.

"And you are envious that she was asked in the first place."

"I'm a terrible person aren't I? She got what she wanted, to be directly trained by the great Tsunade, and all this time I thought I was an all powerful being indirectly taught by Shizune. I prided myself on being the hardest working kunoichi of our generation and when I was told that my poison capabilities were above average…" Tenten whimpered, "But it turns out the reason we were even recruited in the first place was just to make sure that Sakura would come back safely and it's obvious, though never explicitly stated, that Sakura worked a lot harder and became much better."

Neji stopped in his steps and Tenten stopped right after him. She looked over her shoulders and gazed into his pale lavender eyes. She tilted her head in a question as he spoke, "You are only human Tenten and you must remember, you were chosen out of three very skilled medical nin. You who have only been trained in that field for one year compared to two. You should be proud of your progress and need not compare it to those of others. I use you as my training partner and I am acknowledged by the Hokage as being one of the best of the generation; Tsunade-sama acknowledges that too, with or without words."

She laughed, "I know, but I still feel ever so slightly bad for feeling so bitter over a girl who must've lost everything before working so hard to gain it back," she stated. He walked forward and took the girl into his arms gently.

"It's okay… at least you feel Tenten."

Tears shone at the corner of Tenten's eyes as she embraced the man in front of her as well, "It's good thing to feel isn't it?"

"A very good thing."

_Preparations_

"Dammit Sasori, don't go easy on me!" Sakura shouted as she slammed her fist into the ground to blow him out of the earth. "I don't need easy, I need to be able to beat them all to a bloody pulp! I need to tear them apart, shatter every single one of their bones, and see them bleed!" She had to, she really, truly wanted to, but even her fist had waned when it hit the floor and this was only while thinking of them.

His shadowy form burst from the carnage as he flipped fluidly through the air and landed neatly on his feet. He pulled at the chakra strings and manipulated one of his less valuable puppets to approach the pink-haired kunoichi. He had learned his lesson; the Sandiame Kazekage was not to be used in battle with her unless he wanted it to be destroyed.

Sakura jumped into the air and blazed through a bunch of seals. Her seal speed was finally undetectable to the puppet master's eye and he couldn't help but be proud of her and thankful for Itachi's harsh but rewarding teachings. "I do not suggest leaving yourself out in the open," Sasori replied with a smirk as his pinky twitched.

Sakura realized there was another puppet on the playing field and disappeared in a cloud of cheery blossom petals before the sword could plunge through her shoulder from behind. She appeared once again on the ground far away from the puppet master. She took in a couple deep and fast breaths from exertion and charged chakra into her feet.

She leapt and span into the air at the first puppet came at her with its multiple weapons blazing. She shouted in defiance as all the chakra in her feet filtered into her hands and she took a swing at the wooden contraption. Too late, she realized that it wasn't there any longer. "Shit!" Sakura shouted as she landed on the ground and turned around to just manage to bite the second puppet in the jaw. However, it had gotten its sword into her thigh first. She screamed in fury just as Sasori appeared behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You get much too excited when you destroy my hard work," Sasori stated bringing her closer to him. Sakura frowned up at him as she healed the gash on her leg. He whipped his wrist and the cracked puppet disappeared into his scroll. "You get too excited when you are pretending that my puppets are your old teammates actually."

Sakura grinned broadly and flapped her arms in his secure grip, "Sasori, what are you doing?"

"Were you trying to get nicked by my puppets? The weapon is a different matter; this was not even on purpose. I thought you were better than that. You were the girl who destroyed Hiruko and shattered the Sandiame Kazekage," Sasori stated and swiped at the blood on her cheek.

Sakura blinked, "When did…"

"A flying splinter…"

Sakura turned an odd shade of green, "Did you poison the thing?" She asked with a frantic voice, she remembered the complexity of the last poison and remembered how inept everyone in the Akatsuki was at anything remotely medical much less the preparation of a feasible antidote. "Wait… you didn't poison the sword either right?"

"Do you think I would poison a weapon that was to be used in a spar with you? For that matter do you still think you would be standing right about now if I had poisoned my puppet?"

"Yes and no, you have a good point."

Sasori chuckled and rolled his eyes, "You should heal the wound," Sasori stated and backed away from her.

Sakura blushed as brought her glowing green hand to her face. "Now I'm curious though."

"Curious about what, may I inquire?"

"Your new poison. You said it was better than your last, but I'm really having a hard time believing that," Sakura stated with a swing of her finger and she stretched out her sore muscles. The battle had started nearly two hours ago; the field was an absolute mess. Sasori had somehow managed to get better than the first time she had fought him or he had learned every single one of her moves and had put her at even more of a disadvantage since that time, Sakura didn't think it over too much. It would mean that he had been watching her through out all of their battles and that thought, for some strange reason, made her tinge pink. What had happened to her? She was surely not embarrassed over a man watching her killing things… right? No, it was who the man was that embarrassed her.

Sasori smiled at her, "I think it may be slightly unhealthy to develop a common curiosity for all things lethal."

Sakura stuck her tongue out at him as they began to walk back home. They walked side by side their hands slightly brushing with each and every step that they took. "So… will you show me?"

"Whatever you wish," Sasori stated as they reached the door of the little house. Sakura smiled brilliantly as she skipped into the house and past the living area.

"I'm home!" she shouted and waved at the three men in the living area. They gestured back their welcome home and mumbled as Sasori calmly passed by the living area door. He flicked his wrist in a wave and an equally silent gesture was once again returned to him. "Do you hide your poison in your closet?" In the hallway, the hole that Sakura had created was crude patched up with boards of wood and rusty nails. She was a medical nin and a kunoichi, not a carpenter.

"Do you have some sort of affection for our closet?" Sasori asked as he set his scrolls down on his work desk.

Sakura giggled, "I'm guessing that's a no."

"Indeed."

Sakura laughed again as she approached Sasori from behind. She hugged his around the waist and peeked over his shoulder, "So where is it?"

"You sound like a child."

"Sasori," Sakura whined, "I want to see it!" Sasori chuckled and opened up one of his other scrolls. He swiped his hand over the inky black surface before making a string of seals. Sakura noted that there was many center points to the scroll and Sasori had only touched one with his finger. Sakura stared in wonderment as purple smoke emitted from the scroll originating from the center point and slowly turned into a solid object. "I like your jutsus, you should use them more often instead of your puppets' Kekkai Genkai."

"Only because they serve to amuse you."

"Indeed." Sakura and Sasori gave each other a look before Sakura started giggling and Sasori rolled his eyes while letting out an amused chuckle. He handed her the tiny vial that now contained an oddly bright green substance. "This looks oddly familiar…"

"The color was inspired…"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the puppet master before she marched into the washroom. When she held the vial up to her face and looked at the reflection she knew exactly just what the inspiration had been, "That's cute, dedicating a lethal poison color to the eye color of a girl."

"Indeed."

"I think you're the one with the problem." She was bright red.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"You shall arrive back here unharmed or I will have Kisame's head."

"Don't be such a man, I'm allowed to get hurt if I want to get hurt."

"You desire ridiculous things."

"That's not I meant teme, I meant that if you guys thought that maybe… she has changed for the worse. What if those bastards have driven her insane? What if they've hurt her?"

"The birds, they've stopped singing although the sun is still setting."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

For a moment, just a tiny little moment I was like awwww Sasukeeee you're so delusionedddd and then I remembered that he's Sasuke, of course he's delusioned XD.

Naruto has turned cute... I wished that I could somehow make this chapter deeper... but that would defeat its actual purpose...

This whole entire chapter is basically pointing out the desparity of the knowledge between the two groups... ohhh yes Team 7 will be getting a lot of terrible surprises... Did you also notice the desparity between Shikamaru's story to Sakura and the truth or just how Sakura enterpreted the reality? Ohhh... yep and how Tenten explicitly states that Shizune was the one who taught them and not Tsunade?

I love the ending of this chapter... I will never get over just how much I love the ending LOL

Hope you liked it!


	24. Meeting

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 24: Meeting

"Sasori, what is this?" Sakura asked as she walked out of the washroom with a little brown package in her hands that was neatly closed off with a simple thin white string. It had been sitting on her towel on top of the vanity when she had finished her shower just moments before. She didn't care to think about how it had gotten there while she was still showering and just what kind of pervert Sasori could have been. As was long before said, her opinion on the daily lives of the Akatuski were now so twisted that she didn't need to know that most of them were also probably closet perverts.

Sasori looked up at her from his spot on the bed and smirked, "You might want to try opening it to find out."

Sakura puffed her cheeks up in a huff, "You know that wasn't what I meant. I meant why a present?" She tilted her head and blinked as she took her spot beside the puppet master.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer, "I know that something like this is not usually a gift giving occasion, but I think that you will find them useful for your many exploits. I am sure they are the correct size and I can assure you that they are of the highest quality."

Sakura blinked at him again before she smiled and pulled the string while slowly tearing apart the little brown package. She grinned when the contents were revealed and looked up at Sasori who was giving her an expectant look. "I love them! Thank you so much, these are going to be so useful!"

"Did I not say that they would be useful for your exploits?" Sakura giggled at his response and pulled on the black fingerless gloves. They were made out of a thin, stretchy, black material but Sakura was almost sure that it would take a deal of her chakra-enhanced strength to be able to tear them apart. Sasori had been working on materials to counter her bulldozer like temperaments when it came to sparing out in the fields. "They will be good for shattering the ground, and creating chakra scalpels as you so like to often do. No need to go through a pair per month anymore I would deduce."

She flexed her fingers and turned her hands around to inspect the quality of the gloves, "They're beautiful. Thank you Sasori," Sakura smiled and looked up at him. Her eyes were glassy with delight and he couldn't help but smirk back down at her. She turned away and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Of course they are beautiful. I developed them myself, everything that I lay my hands on are a work of art."

Sakura giggled and pointedly stared at his hand that was still attached to her waist, "I can believe that." Sasori snorted and removed his hand. Sakura pouted, bottom lip fully jutting out, "I'm about to leave you, be nice!" She promptly whacked him on the arm for good measure.

Sasori resisted the urge to rub the tender limb, of all the people who he had decided to get friendly enough with him to hit him and he couldn't kill, it had to be the person with the precise chakra control. "You shall arrive back here unharmed or I will have Kisame's head."

"Don't be such a man," Sakura snickered, "I'm allowed to get hurt if I want to get hurt."

"You desire ridiculous things."

Sakura rolled her eyes at him and smirked, "Oh never mind, you will always be a silly man." Sasori's eyes narrowed at her as she burst into a fit of laughter, "Oh come on, and help me get ready!"

Sakura scampered up and off of the bed as she ran towards the closet. She was already dressed in a loose pair of black pants that cinched off at her ankles and a tight black shirt. Her garments resembled those of a Jonin's from Konoha just as all of the other members of Akatsuki wore garments that resembled garments that resembled that of their status back at their own hidden villages. "What else do you need?"

Sakura smiled at him, "Okay maybe it's stupid to ask you to help me," she stated, "I just want my cloak." The cloak to the Jonin gear was like the slash across the hitae-ate, the sign of a good villager gone rogue, of a home that was no longer called so. "Oh, I know! Can you check my weapons pouch please?" Sasori nodded at her request and Sakura quickly took her cloak out of the closet while discreetly slipping something in her Jonin pants. She looked at Sasori's back as she played with the object at the tips of her fingers and wondered if he would ever do something like that for any other woman.

"You are fully stocked on all of the basic weapons. Will you be needing any of your medicinal herbs?" Sasori asked as he handed her the little black pouch. Sakura smiled and attached the pouch securely to the side of her leg. Sasori helped her break the bandage like it was natural to help her get ready. It had gotten natural for the two of them.

"No, I don't think that they will try to poison me, that's just ridiculous. Tsunade already knows my suppression capabilities; it's strong enough to withhold the effects until I concoct an antidote. They probably won't even take me seriously, well after the initial bout they probably still won't wake me seriously is what I mean. But I'm prepared for that, oh yes I'm prepared for that, see fist is now even gloved up because of you," her voice was dry and her voice without humor.

Sasori rolled his eyes and put two fingers under her chin. He tilted her head up to look her directly in her emerald eyes, "Sakura, you are not weak anymore if you ever were..."

"Oh I definitely was."

Once in a while Sasori found it hard to believe that the stories of her childhood could be true, not when he saw the woman in front of him fight and destroy the battlefield around him with a single finger if she so wished, "Since the day that I have met you, you have not been weak. Weaker, potentially, than they are, I am not the one to know, but you will be an absolute nightmare for them at the very least, you will destroy them before they even know what has passed. Kisame will also be present to do what ever his mindless brain tends to do when he sees even a spec of blood."

Sakura's eyes glistened and a small smile graced her lips, "Thank you again Sasori."

"Ah, now Kisame must be getting impatient waiting for you. He does not like waiting anymore than I do."

Sakura nodded before she leaned up ever so slightly. Sasori got the intention and leaned down to gently press his lips against hers. The spark of chakra once again ran through the both of them, causing both of them to shiver from the sensation. "I'm never going to get tired of that," Sakura said in a bit of a daze as she pulled away and pressed her face into his cold shirt.

"That is favorable," Sasori said with a smirk plastered on his face, "Now come along." He took her hand and dragged her out of the room with him and down the hallway. Sakura was still slightly dazed as they reached the living area where Itachi, Kisame and Deidara were playing a round of poker while waiting for the couple to finish their preparations.

"Took you guys long enough," Kisame grinned as he threw down his cards and stood up. He was fully geared up for a fight and the Samehada was resting in a corner of the room waiting for him to retrieve it.

Itachi looked up and nodded at Sasori and Sakura before tossing Kisame a knowing look and a smirk, "That was only because you were losing Kisame."

Kisame threw Itachi a dirty look as he strapped the sword across his back and marched to the door of the living area. "Ready to leave bitch?"

"Anytime you're ready, guppy!"

"Sore loser, yeah!" Deidara chirped.

"You, too, are losing."

"Well at least I'm not a snot about it, yeah."

"Have you ever speculated that working with him would be a terrible idea?" Sasori asked as they all approached the front door.

"Every moment," Sakura replied with a wide grin, "But it's a great opportunity for bonding time. Right guppy? We're going to bond! Bond like we're the bestest of buddies."

"Whatever you want, let's just go," Kisame snapped and threw open the front door. Deidara's taunts could still be heard echoing down the hallway along with Itachi's attempt at suppressing his chuckles.

Sakura looked at Sasori who shrugged and finally let go of her hand, "I will see you in about two to three days time, okay?"

"You will come back unharmed."

"Indeed."

"Kisame…"

"Stop being a teenage prick, the bitch ain't gonna die. She's too hard in the head to do so."

Sakura raised her eyebrow at Kisame who grunted at her before she turned to Sasori and laughed, "Bye Sasori."

"Later," Kisame stated as he faced the wind. His black cloak billowed around his form as Sakura joined his side. Both of them looked legendary standing in the wind and both of them were gone and in the trees by the time Sasori had closed the front door behind him. He knew that something was going to happen on their excursion and that that precise moment would change everything for everyone, he just didn't know what it would be.

Sasori reentered the living area and gazed up at Itachi before noticing the same speculative light reflecting in the Uchiha's eyes; Itachi knew that something was going to change as well. And it seemed that Itachi also knew what.

_Meeting_

Kisame and Sakura stayed beside each other as they traversed through the trees, jumping quietly from branch to branch. Their cloaks continued to dance around their legs. Kisame almost looked like the reaper with the Samehada strapped to his back and ready to sweep down and deal the fatal blow. "Are you sure you remember your way back to that place?" Sakura asked as the wind howled in her ears. The leaves swayed in front of her before disappearing behind her and she leapt up a couple of branches to elevate her position over the ground even more. From here she could even see the little village they had just left. It had been her home away from home.

Kisame had done the exact same as her but was running on a different set of branches although they were still side-by-side, "Of course I remember. You asked me that earlier and I confirmed that I did, doubting me now bitch?"

"I don't know, I just thought that maybe you were so stupid you would have forgotten the way since then," Sakura retorted with a huff as she swung through the leaves and landed on yet another branch. As Sakura moved through the treetops she slipped her hands into the pocket of her pants and pulled out the little object she had hidden there earlier. Just as slowly she dropped the object into her weapons case where it was better protected from harm.

Kisame eyed her oddly and she smiled back at him innocently, "Tch. My real question is why we are setting out so early for this mission. Isn't your meeting day tomorrow? It will take us only half a day to get there."

"I want to scout out the area and map out what I think their routes will be including the route of the back up team. That way I can tell you what to do…"

"No one tells me what to do," Kisame growled.

"Except Itachi, yadda yadda, this is just so that the back up team can stay out of my hair and you can get to your fight quicker alright? I'm not trying to use you or anything you giant fish."

"You don't have the guts to try."

Sakura twitched slightly, "You know what? I'm feeling a little bit tense and you're feeling agitated, when we reach the area let's have a little spar to release the tension, that way we can be warmed up for the fight tomorrow. I'm sure that even you will need to put some effort into fighting a team of four people above the rank of genin."

Kisame grinned, "I like the way you think. I've been meaning to beat your face in without having Itachi giving me disapproving glares or Sasori hanging around with a puppet to shove up my ass."

"Itachi tells _you_ not to beat me up. Well, I have nothing to say to that."

Silence engulfed the two as Sakura heightened her senses to the surrounding area. The bugs were no longer singing their song, but that was the power of the presence of a true Akatsuki member like Hoshigaki Kisame. Sakura wondered if she had the same presence now after so much time spent with the group. She hoped not, it would put her mapping skills to waste and fray her nerves on end.

"You'll have a fair fight with me?" asked Kisame suddenly.

"Fair as fair can be, you will do the same for me?"

"I'm been itching to take you down a notch or two."

"Good, because I feel the exact same."

"We're here."

"Even better."

_Meeting_

"Did you really have to tear your blade through my fucking arm and down my freaking back?" Sakura hissed as she washed her skin gently in the large pool the river had created from the hole in the ground she had made while fighting Sasori exactly one year ago. She now knew why Itachi hadn't preferred her spars with Kisame, he was just an absolute beast and she had never paid enough attention to that detail when they had been on the same side of the battlefield.

The clear water had long turned red and her whole entire body was glowing green from her healing chakra. Every so often she would take a peak at Kisame to make sure that the Akatsuki weren't actually closet perverts before she would relocate herself to slightly cleaner waters to continue her healing process.

Kisame laughed from the side of the clearing, too preoccupied with nursing his broken arm, instead of looking at her. It wasn't in his style anyway. He was only interested in her to the point where the medic was ready and forgiving enough to heal the damage that she had done. Sakura had ended up much worse off than the sword wielder had but her injuries were disappearing much quicker than his were. Along with the marred back, she had also broken a wrist and an ankle that were now fully healed. "I think you deserved that bit after that stupid illusion you put in my head."

"You mean the one where you got captured by a bunch of Konoha nin and were forced to be interrogated losing all of your dignity and stature in the process, oh I quite liked that one," Sakura grinned and forced chakra into her hand to heal the touch injuries that she had received from the Samehada, no wonder it was considered one of the seven legendary swords. Fighting Kisame was in a way harder than fighting both Itachi and Sasori because he was a combination of their most skilled fighting techniques. She didn't have the advantage of being the same tactical fighter with Kisame like she had with Itachi and the Samehada was like Sasori's poison coated weapon. A graze was never just a graze.

"Hm, it served no purpose in weakening me," Kisame stated brusquely as he hissed from the pain shooting up his arm.

Sakura grinned, Kisame had never really defined their relationship with each other, but if he was actually making a show of how much pain he was feeling, she could probably deduce that they were as close as a pair of squabbling siblings. "If I wanted to of, I could have killed you easily you bastard," Sakura laughed as she climbed out of the pool. She quickly pulled on her pants and wrapped her bindings around her chest, eyeing the swordsman as she changed. She walked towards the blue skinned fighter and kneeled beside his arm. "Now let me see that."

"I could have very well killed you too," Kisame hissed as she prodded the skin. The surface was a dark purple with some green staining the edges, his muscle underneath was tender and she could definitely feel the break of the bone beneath her palm. She glowed in pride and Kisame flicked her on the forehead for her insolence.

Sakura smiled, "I know that." Kisame stared at her oddly not quite understanding how he had gotten that admission from her so easily.

"FUCK!"

She had set his arm while he had been in a daze and she grinned up at him in the after math. "Unlike what Sasori says half the time, I'm not delusional enough to even think that I am anywhere even close to as strong as you guys are. The Akatsuki are made up of prodigies and those who have extraordinary Kekkai Genkai. I am neither of those two things."

"But you aren't average. It's not like anyone average could even hope to get close enough to my dominant arm."

"Aww, did you just compliment me you giant fish?" Sakura asked with a laugh as her hand started to glow green. She placed the hand near the break and began to mend the pieces of bone back together while repairing the muscle and skin.

"No normal person could have been able to break my arm and don't insult me by saying that you are normal. I'll kill you."

"Then I was right long ago when I said that you didn't let the Anbu put a hole through your chest," Sakura laughed, "And thank you for the compliment, because admit it you and I both know that it was. That must have been really hard on your brain… what ever you have left of it that is."

Kisame scowled, "I'm not complimenting you or anything. I'm merely stating the facts. And the fact of the matter is that you are strong enough and you don't let any of us put you down just because you're weaker, so you belong with us."

Sakura smiled at him brilliantly, "And I can cook."

Kisame smirked back, "That too."

Sakura giggled and removed her grip on his arm and shifted backwards, "Do you have any more injuries?" She looked him up and down as he replaced the sleeve of his Akatsuki robe on his arm.

"Just a bunch of scratches and bruises, but otherwise I'm fine. Don't you have to go do your stupid scouting thing? I want my fight and I want it to be a good fight," Kisame stated and stood up.

"Yah, I'll go do that now," Sakura replied and stood up. She walked back to where she had thrown her shirt and pulled it back over her head. "Watch my cloak and weapons for me you moron."

"Fine."

Sakura hopped up into the trees and in the direction of her home village. 'They should have left by now,' Sakura thought as she scanned the area. She made a mental map of everything that she saw, storing away not only the images that flashed in front of her eyes but also the sounds of the forest around her. She stopped before she had gone too far. It had taken her an hour to get to the location she was at currently but from the landscape that she had already experienced she could deduct what the plan of action for the Konoha teams would be.

Her trip back to where Kisame was waiting for her took about half of the time due to her lack of memorization and mapping but she still noted down the changes in sounds as she passed by the same areas and how they corresponded to the change in sunlight. She was relieved that she didn't exude the same presence as her new teammates, but at the same time she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed as well. She was sure that her crazy had gotten to the level of the Akatsuki, but then again she hadn't murdered any Hokage's, hadn't killed her teammates or annihilated her only family… well not yet. Though did it really count if it was a future Hokage? Possibly.

She was in front of Kisame before she registered the river that was rushing behind her. "I'll tell you what you need to know, what you will do and then we should rest in preparation for the battle," she stated tritely and pushed her hair out of her face. Her gaze was calm and her bright green eyes were vivid.

Kisame was in the exact same position he had been in when she had left, was what Sakura realized, when he nodded to her. He had been meditating and centralizing his energy. The man, although superficially impatient, could wait like a shark stalking its prey. "Tell me everything I need to know." His dark grin was animalistic.

_Meeting_

Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto had departed from the gate one day earlier than Kisame and Sakura had left their own little home. Neji, Tenten, Lee and Gai had left fifteen minutes after. One day into the trip and the team still found themselves on the main road.

"Kakashi-sensei, if Sakura-chan is still alive…"

"Sakura is still alive Naruto, we cannot afford to stop believing that." Kakashi couldn't afford to lose another one.

"Alright, WHEN we see Sakura-chan again, do you think she will have changed from her time with the Akatsuki?" Naruto asked, his eyes glassy with contemplation and his body shaking with nervousness and anger.

"Everyone has the right to change," Sasuke replied in the place of his old sensei and Kakashi gave him an approving nod, "Though not all change can be considered favorable." Kakashi's nod turned into a frown.

"That's not what I meant teme, I meant that if you guys thought that maybe… she has changed for the worse. Well it is what you meant, but the second thing that you meant. What if those bastards have driven her insane? What if they've hurt her? What if our Sakura-chan is broken beyond repair?" Naruto's eyes widened in horror as his heart skipped a beat at the thought. Green eyes turned dull, hair unattended to, scruffy and un-kept, a mere shell, a puppet of what the bright, lovesick, innocent Sakura used to be.

"Those are all possibilities Naruto, but there is no use dwelling in those possibilities because they aren't going to get us anywhere. We'll see what has happened to Sakura when the time comes," Kakashi muttered and shifted his glance back and forth between all of his team members. It seemed that they were all just as scared as he was on the fate of their last teammate.

Naruto scowled slightly, "But I made a promise to myself about Sakura-chan…"

_"In trying to become better, in trying to beat teme, we left you like everyone had left me when I was younger."_

_He turned around in his bed and curled up into a ball, "I'll make it up to you Sakura-chan, it's a promise!"_

"Dobe, we all made our own vows to her."

_Sasuke closed his eyes and tried to imagine that future. The future where he knew he wouldn't be having children with green eyes. The future where they would still all be on Team Kakashi, assigned together for all of the major missions of the village. He imagined Sakura as she smiled at him with that same bright smile, the one that was only for him. And then he frowned._

_He couldn't see it._

_"I'll make it happen…"_

"Sasuke's right Naruto, it's about all of us and her, not just you. No… it's about everyone back at the village who love her as well."

_Genma laughed with a slight bitter edge and shrugged, "I don't know about being better Kakashi. You're kind of already pushing the limits here and I'm speaking the truth. You did the best you could and that left at least some kind of an impression on her, after all the only person Sakura tags the adorable title of sensei onto is still only you Kakashi, only you."_

_Kakashi looked up at Genma and saw the genuine kindness in the man eyes. Kakashi managed a laugh and give a sigh of relief, "When did you figure out what the right thing to say was?"_

"Ah, I'm sorry," Naruto murmured and hung his head slightly in shame, "I'm just worried so much about Sakura-chan. She means everything and I don't want to lose her just because we're all just stupid and…"

"Don't beat yourself up about it Naruto," Kakashi demanded, "Save all of that frustration for when we face off against the Akatsuki."

"Yes sensei," Naruto replied reluctantly and bit his lip. They were running as fast as they could in order to reach their place of designation at the right time, the setting of the sun on the third day.

"This is where we reared off the main path last time," Sasuke stated. The other two nodded and followed him into the undergrowth.

The trees were thick and the air that was swirling around them was warm. The birds were singing their evening song that echoed softly in the air and the insects were croaking away at their ever-sad melody. The leaves rustled as the team dressed as Anbu personnel passed but stilled the moment the disturbance had left. There were very few traces of their presence, just enough to allow the team that was following them to not get lost.

The second day passed with little being exchanged within the trio. Words couldn't be said for the regret and hope that was bubbling in their midst.

The third day brought on an attempt to lighten the mood, to try and see the good that would come up with what was known to be a doomed battle.

"I'm going to hug Sakura-chan when I see her," Naruto stated boldly and suddenly. He couldn't stand the silence that was coming from all of them. It seemed too much like a portend of doom. And doom only meant one thing, the death of their last piece. The last piece in the great puzzle that was supposed to have been Team 7, but the other two did not see silence like Naruto did.

The other two stayed quiet at his proclamation. Thoughts were buzzing through their heads every single moment and none of them really knew what they were ready to do in the face of seeing their old pink-haired teammate. Actions after all, often were different from words.

"One year is a long time," Naruto stated again in desperation, "Maybe her hair has grown out… or something?"

"Two years is longer," Sasuke replied frankly. Silence once again followed his statement as thoughts continued to buzz around the team and oppress them into a haze.

"Sasuke, how close are we?" Kakashi asked suddenly and stopped in his tracks. The other two slowed down and turned around to meet back with their teacher.

"Maybe about ten minutes, why?" Sasuke asked as he looked up into Kakashi's uncovered sharingan. Sasuke felt the need was great to activate his as well.

"Don't you notice something odd? It happened the last time the Akatsuki attacked us," Kakashi murmured and looked around. "The birds, they've stopped singing although the sun is still setting."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Naruto asked, "We're wasting time talking about birds! Our deadline for meeting Sakura-chan is getting close, too close!"

"Shut up dobe, did that frog Sannin teach you nothing?" Sasuke scowled and opened up his senses. 'Why is their no animal life within the vicinity?'

Suddenly a blur passed by them in a flash and Kakashi immediately identified the culprit. "Hoshigaki Kisame!" The sword wielder grinned his teeth at the copy-nin before giving them a small salute and continuing down the path to meet his awaiting opponents.

Kakashi nearly snarled as he turned towards the direction that Kisame had disappeared off to. He noticed that Kisame had taken the exactly same path that they had used to get to their current location, he was following the path that they had left behind, "They know…"

"Sakura-chan? What does that mean for Sakura-chan?" Naruto shouted. They all thought the same thing, if the Akatsuki knew that they were here than Sakura could only be…

"Kakashi-sensei, Naruto, Sasuke!" It was a scream that echoed from the distance, from their destination by the river, and the voice was much too familiar for the team to mistaken it for anything else.

Naruto's eyes widened in horror as he saw the twelve year old Sakura that he had fallen so desperately in love with crying over Sasuke, crying with all the pain in the world, that was what the voice sounded like to him.

Sasuke's sharingan began to spin slowly as his neck snapped in the direction of the sound of her voice, it was so different from how she used to call his name three years before. He just didn't know why. Was it because they were older, was it because we had been waiting to hear it for over a year now?

Kakashi's sharingan span so fast that the memories the eye brought to him were all blurred together, the only thing he knew was that he saw Rin, or he heard her and she sounded just as Sakura had sounded just an instant before.

They looked at each other in shock before all three of them blindly raced towards the voice not noticing or registering that there was something truly unusual about the call. Chakra pulsed in their feet as they tore through the trees and towards the riverbank. It was the place that Haruno Sakura had last been reported to be seen alive, the place that they had lost her for the first time.

When the trees all disappeared, the rushing of the water could be heard and a shadow could be seen on the other side of the riverbanks, standing before the setting sun. All three men paused as they hit the ground crouched on one knee lined up beside each other. All of them looked up at the same time to observe the still silhouette. Silence engulfed them as breaths were held.

Suddenly sound rushed forth again with Naruto as he approached the riverbank in what could have been a desperate run. He stopped on the shore with tears in his eyes and an arm reaching out to her, pleading to her, "Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted over the rushing of the water as the other two men stood up.

Sakura opened her eyes slowly, her eye lashes brushing across the top of her cheeks and smiled at her former team, a smile, they all noted, that was not one they had ever seen before. It was almost feral and even slightly deranged. Her lips were dark with humor and quirked with an eerie sense of foreboding. Her eyes burned green and contrasted greatly with her clothing. Before them was anything but a broken Sakura. "Sakura…" Kakashi murmured as both of his eyes widened at the sight before them.

The wind blew splaying her pink hair around the crown of her head, but it settled down and she tilted her chin up in delight. Her smile had turned into a condescending smirk. "Naruto. Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke. I have been waiting a year now to see you all once again," Sakura stated as she ran her eyes across them, pausing on each person before blinking slowly once again. "You will regret the fact that you ever left me behind." The wind gusted once more and swayed her black cloak splashed with the bright red clouds.

That was when Sasuke realized what had been wrong with the call; she had stopped calling him Sasuke-"kun".

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"The Akatsuki are a group of elites Sakura, they would never…"

"Never accept someone as weak as me?"

"I would suggest you stop trying to make motivational speeches Naruto, and start paying attention to your enemy."

"I didn't even come close. I couldn't even will myself to get close."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

Aren't you so proud of me ^^;; my updates are returning at full blast... probably because I'm procrastinating on studying with all my might, but it gets you guys updates so, be happy woot woot!

I apoligize that this chapter is kind of fillery... it does have its future purposes somewhere.

Btw, the story is going to be ending at around 30 chapters, but they will be getting longer as it gets closer to the end. Uh... considering the triffling nature of how I had always planned to end this whole story... there is going to be a poll to extend the story by one more chapter... uh you'll see when it happens and you get to decide.

Omg, who's excited, who's excited for the next chapter? I'm excited LOL. Thank you to everyone who reviewed last time, you guys are great.


	25. Weak

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 25: Weak

The river was going to be the place where they would lose Sakura for the second time as well.

"Sakura…"

"It's funny, isn't Sasuke? You were supposed to be the one who would defect from the village, you were supposed to become the traitor, and you were supposed to be charmed by the Akatsuki…" Well maybe Sakura was exaggerating a little bit, but Orochimaru had once been part of the Akatsuki and the connection was there, she wasn't just blurting out just anything, now that they were standing right before her eyes. Her fist clenched and the fabric of the gloves pulled around her knuckles.

"I would never join the organization Itachi is a part of!" Sasuke snarled as he glared at his pink-haired teammate who was still standing eerily still on the other side of the river. His heart was beating quickly, it hadn't been just once or twice, but it seemed like she really did no longer call him Sasuke-"kun". His stomach tightened and the urge to vomit welled up in his throat.

Sakura tilted her head at him and gazed into his red eyes, "Whatever you wish to think, Sasuke," Sakura laughed with a snort in her voice, "But really, who ever would have thought that sweet, pink-haired, innocent and much, much too _behind_ Haruno Sakura would be the one on Team 7 to be the first to leave." Her cloak billowed in the wind and gave her wings.

"Sakura-chan, leave? You never left! What are you doing wearing that hideous, dark thing? You're safe now; we're here for you. Who ever said that you had ever left us?" Naruto shouted as he prepared to leap over the riverbanks and give his teammate the hug that he so wanted to give. The hug that he believed would take away all of his guilt; this wasn't his fault, what was happening in that very moment was not his fault!

Naruto's voice was panicked, his eyes frantic as he gazed at the girl he no longer knew, his hands were shaking as they reached out towards the girl that he had had a crush on for his whole childhood. She smirked at him as he prepared to leap at her. "I left you a long time ago, Naruto and it was you who didn't… well couldn't stop me." A hand clamped down on his shoulder to stop his movements just before he could clear the river.

"Naruto stop, something isn't right," Kakashi ordered using a great deal of his strength to restrain the kyuubi.

Naruto's eyes had dilated as he was jolted back, 'I'm selfish… I want to…' His arms wanted to embrace her… but out of guilt? "What's wrong with me…?"

"Sakura… are you being controlled right now? Are one of the Akatsuki members controlling you?" Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he took in her form and observed her eyes, trying to find any movement, any movement at all that pointed out that everything she was saying was being said unwillingly. The cloak had not been the tip off for him in regards to her change unlike to Naruto. Instead what he had noted was her tense and rigid stance; she was fighting something within herself and he couldn't identify what it was that was tearing her apart.

Sakura burst into a fit of laughter and the three men reeled back from her sudden reaction, it had not been what Kakashi had expected as any sort of reaction, "Of course that's what you would think, of course that's what all of you would think. I couldn't possibly be standing here right now unless the Akatsuki had broken me down, right?" Sakura chuckled darkly, "There is no way that I could be wearing this cloak out of my own free will, there is no way I would even be alive, right?"

"The Akatsuki are a group of elites Sakura, they would never…" Sasuke pointed out with a degrading snarl as his stance straightened and he went closer to the river to stand beside his two comrades.

"Never accept someone as weak as me?" Sakura growled, the wind howled and amplified her voice, Naruto shuddered as he saw the sunset burn a fire in Sakura's eyes. "I'm not weak anymore, I haven't been weak for a very long time! They don't need me, granted, but they want me!"

"You aren't enough for the Akatsuki, Sakura! They're just using you to get to us. Be rational, you were always the most rational out of all of us. They'll just throw you away once we're disposed of!" Sasuke howled.

Sakura smiled softly as him, "Is that so? Everything is always just about the last Uchiha, the famous copy-nin and the powerful kyuubi. Nothing else." Sakura's eyes didn't waver… but her thoughts did fault.

The memory came back to her…

_"So everything that she concluded about the Hokage?"_

_"Was probably right to begin with and false by the time we ended it."_

_ "It seems as though Akatsuki in the end is still a greedy, selfish organization despite what the bitch thinks."_

She hadn't known then whether or not Itachi had intentionally allowed her to listen to that conversation but now that she knew better the workings of the Uchiha mind, she knew that he indeed had. Itachi did everything with intention. Over hearing it in that situation would have better than finding it out at some later time by accident. That was why she had tried; she had tried so hard to be able to be all that she could be, just so that she could stay… and in the mean time, what had been an initial plan of manipulation had truly turned into a want, and then suddenly she did fit or so she hoped. Deidara had become her best friend, Kisame her snotty older brother, Itachi her mentor and Sasori her lover…

But that conversation had been a gamble on Itachi's part and that, he had always known. There was still a small little scar on her heart… and she knew that it made her _weak_.

Her fist clenched again as Sakura snarled and barred her teeth, 'I'm no longer who I used to be!'

Kakashi only managed to see flashes before he yelled his commands, "Get out of the way now!" he shouted as he dragged Naruto off to the left and Sasuke dove to the right. A giant crater appeared where they had been standing before as Sakura span back into the air and reclaimed the spot she had abandoned across the river. She cracked her knuckles and grinned at them. Her sad and sorry thoughts had all been wiped out of her head. She didn't want to think about it anymore. Kakashi's eyes widened in shock from the damage she had dealt and that was when he realized that the lake he had seen further down the river was not natural.

"Sakura-chan! What are you doing?" Naruto coughed as he looked up and through all of the flying dirt, it didn't even seem like she had moved from her spot in front of the setting sun. Sakura was on fire. "This isn't like the gentle Sakura-chan that I know!"

Sakura's face was set into a scowl as clenched her fists, "I'm worthless to you people aren't I?" she screamed and dug her nails into the fabric of her gloves, "No matter what I do to show you that I'm strong, I'm still useless to you people! I'm going to show you," she growled, "I'm going to kill you." 'I'm not weak!'

"Sakura-chan, what did they do to you?" Naruto groaned as he pulled himself back onto his feet, "What did those bastards do to you? I'm going to tear them apart, I'm going to be the one to kill them."

Naruto eyes widened as pink hair suddenly brushed across his cheek and her fragrance engulfed his nose. She smelled like sandalwood. "I would suggest you stop trying to make motivational speeches Naruto," Sakura whispered into his ear as she stood in front of him, "And start paying attention to your enemy." Kakashi tried to save Naruto in time, but she had been too fast. Sakura slammed her fist into Naruto's stomach. Her eyes widened from the brief contact, 'what's going on in that body of his,' she thought as she watched her former teammate go flying. She looked down at the tip of her fingers that were glowing a subtle green. She had done a medical scan on him by incident.

Sasuke ran as fast as he could to catch his comrade before he could hit the hard ground and create a hole of his very own, "Oi dobe!" Sasuke shouted as the heavy mass slammed into him and sent them both rolling. Sasuke was off the ground again within a moment and went to grab Naruto's arm, the blue-eyed boy was still in shock as he was pulled to his feet. The chakra from the kyuubi wrapped around his wound and forcibly healed it in flurry of orange energy.

"I've been there for all of your stupid motivational speeches Naruto. I know exactly how they work, so don't expect them to work on me," Sakura sneered with narrowed eyes, trying to recover from her one instance of unconventional thought. She hid her shaking hand into the large sleeves of her cloak as she spoke.

"Sakura, Sasuke's right, you're being irrational!" Kakashi demanded as he appeared behind her and tried to grab her arms without hurting her. She looked back at him with a smile as she burst into plethora of cherry blossom petals. "Shit!"

"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan is hurt, she has to be hurt, that can't be her," Naruto coughed out as he clutched at his stomach. If it hadn't been for the Anbu vest he was wearing and the kyuubi within him, he was sure that a fist shaped hole would have been where his bowels were supposed to be.

Sakura sighed as she leaned against one of the trees at the tree line. Three pairs of eyes all flickered up to her and locked onto her relaxed form, "I'm never going to get through to you," Sakura mumbled resolutely and shook her head, "I hate it, I hate this feeling." Her voice was quiet; it was almost like she was talking more to herself than to them.

"Sakura," Sasuke whispered as he drew his sword. Sakura smiled at this as she shifted her weight back onto both of her feet, "You almost killed him, the dobe, our friend."

"Our friend?" Sakura rose her eyebrow, "Interesting for you to say that Sasuke, well I didn't even come close," Sakura chuckled and stared at her hand once again, "I couldn't even will myself to get close." She had been through all the files in the Hokage Tower, of course she knew the healing capacity of the kyuubi.

Sasuke didn't dwell on what her words meant as he appeared in front of her with his sword drawn. Sakura allowed a burst of blue chakra to come from her palm to deflect the sword from her shoulder, a non-lethal destination. Sakura swung her fists at the man as he pulled back and wielded his sword once again to slice into her leg. She easily jumped and dodged the sharp weapon as she flipped in the air and landed.

Suddenly his sword started singing the song of a thousand birds and Sakura's eyebrow raised in fascination. "I'm not going to kill you Sakura."

"With that mindset you won't be able to graze me either." She reeled back as Sasuke came charging at her, his sword still singing and blazing brightly with the element of lightning. Quickly planting the toes of her right foot into the dirt she used the sudden friction to change her direction instantaneously to get underneath his weapon and make a wide sweeping arch at him with a blade of her own.

Sasuke hissed as he jumped back quickly, dodging her chakra scalpel in time. He twisted the sword in his hand again at he disappeared in a cloud of smoke and reappeared behind her. Sakura flooded all of her healing chakra into her hands as she flipped backwards and over his head, using the sword itself as her leverage. Her chakra healed her hands as the sword did its damage. She landed with a slight thump and a flurry of dust as she redirected her chakra into the index and middle fingers of her two hands and slashed her nails across Sasuke's back. He had disappeared before she had managed to touch him.

Sakura spun around and stared at the panting Sasuke, the song of his sword had died away and all that was left was a drained Uchiha, "And I had always thought stamina wasn't my thing."

"It isn't."

"Then you thought that you would take me down quickly."

"I did."

"Well you failed."

"I know."

Raising her foot into the air she slammed it down into the ground and split it wide open. Sasuke jumped out of the way of the flying rocks and maneuvered his sword around his body at lightning speed so that it created a barrier that wouldn't let Sakura get past and be able to land a hit onto his body. She jumped back from the defensive maneuver and braced herself on the ground near the bank of the river. Sakura grinned as she dug her fingers into the dirt. Her fingers touched something cold. "You're the only one that is even trying to fight me Sasuke, for that I am glad," Sakura smiled gratefully, but the smile disappeared and her nose flared in frustration, "But you aren't even taking me seriously if you thought something that stupid would work!"

Sakura lifted one hand out of the soil and went through the motions of making her seals and Sasuke's eyes widened when he found that he couldn't follow the speed. He was blown back the next minute and crashed through ten trees before coming in contact with the ground, he coughed and looked back to where he had been standing just moments before, "Fuck," he muttered as he realized that the seals she had made were just a ruse. Glass glistened from the wounds in his chest and he wondered where the girl has gotten the shards before he slumped to the ground.

Sakura turned around to face Naruto, who was still looking up at her with unbelieving eyes, and Kakashi, who seemed determined to take the fight on to him next, "The copy-nin as an opponent, what an honor," Sakura laughed, "Will you not take me seriously either, Kakashi-sensei? After all you thought that Sasuke would be able to take me down didn't you? That's why you decided to help Naruto instead of join into our little spat?" Kakashi, who had previously had Naruto braced on his shoulders, set the shinobi down beside the tree line and gave him the signal to rest and heal. He turned back to Sakura.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed at her as she stared him down, "I didn't think you would actually fight him so fiercely."

"Think I'm still in love with the Uchiha?"

"Some things never change."

"Well some things do."

Kakashi flickered and he was gone from her sight. Sakura immediately expanded her senses and blocked the clone that came at her from above. She threw it off of her, impaling it on a broken branch and noticed that three other clones were heading in her direction. She jumped into the air to get out of the center of the attack and ripped through one of the clones with her fist. She quickly grabbed another around the neck as it tried to perform a set of seals to subdue her and proceeded to snap it.

The last clone came at her from above. She blocked the attack with her arms crossed and used the block to fling the clone backwards. Before the clone had even hit the ground, it had changed direction and was coming at her again at full force. Sakura grinned as the clone's fist came to hit her in the temple and she grabbed it by the wrist; she tried to put her palm to the clone's stomach in order to decimate all of its organs. The clone might not have been real, but it would still hurt for the maker. However, the clone continued to dive forward and used its momentum to wrench itself free from her hold before she could inflict her attack. She heard the snapping of its bones before she used the clone's momentum to also flip backwards and bring her foot into its stomach. She heard a poof and a hiss before she swung her arm backwards with her pinky glowing a bright blue. Kakashi appeared in front of her once more with a shallow cut on his arm, "You've improved," Kakashi muttered.

"Only a superficial wound," Sakura scoffed, "I missed. And it seems as though you have decided for the same route of action as Sasuke, although he should have been a warning to come at me with the intent to kill."

"You won't be getting another hit like that one," Kakashi replied as he began to perform seals.

Sakura frowned and only realized just then that Itachi had not taught her how to follow seal speed, but it didn't matter to her right then as she moved her hands. Just the shocked look from Kakashi as he found that he couldn't copy her jutsu was enough to please her, "I told you to take me seriously!" She had finished her technique before he had.

Kakashi's whole entire body shuddered and he dropped to his knees. His eyes rolled to the back of his head before his neck snapped forward. "Kai!" Kakashi's nearly rigid form muttered in vain and Sakura smiled widely as her sensei actually had to fight in order to get out of her genjutsu. Kakashi shuddered several more times, "Kai!" he shouted once again before the rigidity disappeared and his eyes returned to normal. He slumped forward onto his hands and took in several deep breaths of air before looking up at her, "Affinity… for genjutsu…" His eyes were hazy; he had seen Rin in the place of Sakura and Sakura dying in the place of Rin.

"They developed it," Sakura said with a look of peace settling across her face, "They saw what I was good at and they developed it for me. Something that you never did, Kakashi-sensei." 'Even if they had been manipulating me… at least… at least…'

Kakashi couldn't help but hate himself and the title as he wheezed and took in a few more breaths. The lone tear that he had let escape hit the ground, 'how had Sakura known about Rin?' Sakura was mocking them, every last one of them and he couldn't say that they didn't deserve it.

"S-Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered as he finally picked himself off of his feet. His wound had, for the most part, healed to perfection.

"Naruto, if you can't fight her," Kakashi coughed and took in another deep breath, "Don't." He saw the irony in the way that he was treating her; it was like the bell test, if they didn't come at him with the intent to kill, they would never succeed. Now if he didn't go at her with that very same intent, he would never be able to save her. 'When did I stop looking underneath the underneath?' It didn't matter if she was doing this to him intentionally, he deserved it, but maybe now he also understood that she wasn't their Sakura anymore.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto managed to splutter out, "She's our Sakura-chan. Maybe she's changed and maybe she's angry at us, but she's still our Sakura-chan and we promised to bring her back to Konoha with us. And that is exactly what I'm going to do, I'm going to bring Sakura-chan back to us and I'm going to do it without having to fight with her!"

"She's not our…"

"Naruto," Sakura whispered, she was once again speaking into his ear and he shuddered at her inhuman speed, "I already told you," she continued softly and Naruto was even more shocked to feel a drop of wetness hit his bare upper arm, "The motivational speeches won't work on me. But I guess you'll never find it in yourselves to take me seriously. You're the monsters, all three of you, monsters." He felt her touch him tightly on his chest and a burst of warmth, 'I knew it,' Sakura thought as she pulled her hand away and her body as well. She couldn't help scanning him a second time.

He finally saw her green eyes and opened and closed his mouth. Her eyes were shining, shining with unshed tears. Then he saw blurs before everything went dark and all he could feel was pain. He remembered her monsters… how could he have ever forgotten?

Kakashi's eyes widened as wounds slowly began to appear on Naruto's skin as he slumped into the kunoichi's arms. Sakura lowered him down to the ground, his blood soaking her cloak as she stepped in front of Kakashi. "You might be really good Kakashi, but I have an affinity for genjutsu that had been developed by the best of the best and more than that, I know everything about you. You won't be able to escape me this time," Sakura whispered to his haunted face as the seals were made. He didn't see a single one of them before he was plunged into the cold, quiet abyss where an invisible force was tearing into him. All he could remember were her tears. 'Why?'

Sakura backed away from both of the men and looked into the forest and more specifically the long path of destroyed trees. She teleported to where her last former teammate lay, still trying to recover from all of the blows that he had taken. "Sakura…" he choked out as he looked up at her, "You… you are…"

Sakura smiled at him tenderly, "I am whom you would have turned out to be if Kakashi-sensei had done nothing. I'm sorry it had to end this way, Sasuke…kun," she whispered. His eyes widened before the dark took over and all he could feel was pain.

She used her strength to carry the body back to where the other two comrades lay, slowly bleeding from their wounds, and set Sasuke down on the ground. She snarled at herself as she wiped the tears in her eyes away from her face and cursed her stupid emotions, cursed that she had let Sasuke see the tears, see her weakness. The blood on her hands made her look like she was shedding red tears.

She sat down on the ground and stared at the pools of blood that were slowly being formed. She watched as the pools began to flow and turn into rivers at her feet. It wasn't the same feeling as it had been the first time and every other time after that.

_"Suffer," she growled as the last seal was performed._

'This time the feelings are totally different,' Sakura thought as she choked in a sob, "Curse my weakness," she mumbled as she pushed herself off the ground and stumbled. Her shoes tracked through the blood and she heaved in a great sob. "Kai," she whispered and the wounds on all three boys stopped forming before her eyes. Before they could wake up, Sakura performed a series of seals, this time taking out two and replacing them with one. "Sweet dreams, may they come true for you."

'The genjutsu will break by itself, and hopefully by then, I'll be long gone. Hopefully this failure will also be forgotten,' Sakura thought as she walked away from her former comrades, "I'll always be weak."

She couldn't kill them.

_Weak_

Kisame grinned as he manipulated the water that entrapped the team of four in front of him. Tenten struggled in holding her breath as the time and effort started getting to her. Neji looked over at her in worry and nodded at Lee and Gai who were both also worried for their only female teammate. "You guys are no fun," Kisame grinned, "Not even a proper fight! My respect for you Konoha nin has just dropped even more than before."

Gai's eyes narrowed as Tenten coughed and struggled not to breathe in the water that was pressing to her mouth and nose. He gestured to his protégé and Lee nodded in response. Suddenly Gai's chakra started to whirl around him in great amounts as his water bubble burst into a shower of spray. Kisame grinned in delight as the man rushed at him before releasing the jutsu on the other three in order to allow free movement. Kisame pulled on his sword, releasing it from his back and engaged the taijutsu master in a fight. "This was what I was promised!" He swung the Samehada over his head and down toward the jounin, who dodged it easily.

Neji grabbed Tenten shoulders as she collapsed and sucked in as much air as she could, "Lee get her out of here and somewhere safe. I'll stay and help Gai-sensei, go!"

Lee nodded, "I will be back after securing out beautiful Tenten's life," he declared as he grabbed the still coughing Tenten and whisked her off into the woods.

Kisame tried to intervene in their departure but was cut off by Neji. "Be safe!" the Hyuuga shouted as he knocked the sword wielder back.

"Great god, the bitch is never going to let me down for this," Kisame sighed before grinning, "No matter, I got my fight."

Lee raced through the trees as fast as he could with the extra weight in his arms, "I'm sorry Lee, for being such a nuisance," Tenten muttered and spluttered slightly as water gushed out of her mouth. Lee stopped for a moment in order to allow her to vomit before they proceeded farther away from the enemy.

"You are no nuisance dearest Tenten," Lee said and smiled as her kindly, Tenten smiled back up at him as he landed on the ground. "This seems like a safe place, will you be able to take care of yourself Tenten?"

"Once I'm not a burden anymore I'll come back to join you," Tenten replied as she coughed up more water and wiped the residue away with her sleeve.

"That is the spirit my dearest Tenten. If you do not show up with ten minutes time, I shall come back to check on you, but for now I must go aid our other valiant comrades," Lee replied and Tenten nodded.

"Go then Lee, I'm not going to die," Tenten smiled and waved him off. Lee nodded enthusiastically and disappeared back into the direction that they had come from.

Tenten sighed and slammed her head back on the tree she was leaning on, "That went just swell," Tenten murmured, "One Akatsuki member and we're already failing pretty badly… no I'm failing pretty badly." She grinded her teeth together and sucked in a large breath.

Tenten shuddered as her still soaking clothes clung to her chilled skin and made her feel like she was encased in ice. At times like this she could understand why Sakura had accepted the mission like she had, she could feel self-pity seeping into her bones.

That was when the weapons mistress noticed a movement from the corner of her eye. She drew her weapons quickly and tried not to panic. She wasn't fit to be fighting any kind of battle much less an Akatsuki member of her own.

She heard her weapons hit wood and took in several more breaths to relax, 'it had been a false alarm,' she thought as she lowered her arms down. Then she saw the flash of pink. She tossed three more weapons and the pink thing hissed before stumbling out of the forest, "It is true then, you do really make ten for ten no matter how fast something is moving," Sakura mumbled in frustration and looked up at the brown eyed girl. Her hand was glowing green as she healed the cut on her cheek.

Tenten pushed herself up to her feet, "Sakura!" she grinned delightfully, "You don't know how happy I am to see you! I thought you could have been an Akatsuki member or something," Tenten sighed and leaned back against the tree with her eyes closed. Sakura's eyes narrowed as she gazed at the brown haired girl. Tenten opened her eyes and looked around and blinked, "Where are Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei? Shouldn't they be with you?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed further as she gazed at the brown haired girl before she suddenly reacted. "It was you!" Sakura growled as she grabbed Tenten's neck and shoved her against the tree that had used to be the brown haired girl's salvation.

For the second time in an hour Tenten found that she had a hard time breathing, "S-Sakura?" she managed to choke out despite the grip on her neck and the bark the was digging into her skin. Tenten reached up desperately to grab Sakura's wrist and tried to wrangle it away from her throat but found that the attempt was fruitless. "What's wrong Sakura?" Tenten cried. Sakura only got angrier as she took her other hand and slammed one of Tenten's arms into the wood, immediately snapping it and resulting in Tenten's shrill scream.

"You! You bitch!" Sakura shouted and increased the pressure on the girl's neck. Tears stained Sakura's vision as she grinded her teeth together.

_Sakura winced opening her mouth again, "What…"_

_"Is it like to be the weakest link?" Tenten asked and looked at the pink haired girl. Sakura nodded meekly, "I'm not the weakest link. Sure I'm not the strongest, not the fastest and definitely not the smartest, but I'm me, and my team needs me."_

_"How…"_

_"Do I know? Because they are my team, and I will do anything for them and they will do anything for me. I won't be left behind because I refuse to be left behind." _

"You have no idea! You have no fucking clue!" Sakura shouted and shook the girl harshly and frantically. Her eyes were blurring with tears.

Tenten winced and tried to scream for help, 'it was true, what we were told,' she thought, Sakura has gotten stronger, much stronger. Her limp arm only proved her point. "S-Sakura, p-please…"

"I'm the weakest link, we were both the weakest link!" Sakura sobbed as she let go of the girl in front of her and watched as she crashed to the ground clawing at her neck with her one useable hand, "But you, all you had to do was _believe_ and _refuse_ and all of that absolute bullshit!" Sakura spat.

"S-Sakura… They… they're looking for you," Tenten wheezed out as she looked up at the pink-haired girl in front of her. She noticed that Sakura was much like her, she noticed that she was almost sobbing just like how she was about to break down as well. "Your team is looking for you at this very instant."

Sakura scoffed and smirked with a watery unease, "I've already taken care of them."

Tenten's eyes widened as she finally noticed the ripped garb that Sakura was wearing. It was soaked with blood, almost dipping with it. She convulsed in sheer horror before a scream tore from her throat unwittingly, "LEE!"

Sakura burst out into a terrifying laugh as Tenten continued to shiver from fear and apprehension, "I… I never let them leave me behind. Who would ever LET someone leave you behind?" Sakura snarled as she turned her green eyes back at the girl still sitting under the tree, "You are just full of bullshit Tenten. I hate you! I hate you! I can refuse to be left behind as much as I want to, but it will never matter to them. I don't matter to them. As much as I needed my team, my team DIDN'T, _DOESN'T_ need me!" Sakura approached the weapons mistress again and Tenten held back her pain as her right leg snapped under the pressure of Sakura's foot. The pink haired kunoichi had totally snapped. Tears flowed down Tenten cheeks and she clenched her teeth as she looked at the sad and broken girl that was standing in front of her.

Tenten cried just as Sakura began to cry as well, the tears running down their face for different pains. The weapon master just couldn't help it, she realized exactly what Sakura had meant, she realized that it was only her team and her team alone between the two that would have left two people to fight against an Akatsuki member while sending off the third to take care of a weaker teammate. Team 7 didn't operate like that, it never had. "Sakura…I…"

"Sakura-san!" Lee appeared out from the trees a little bit more wet than he had been before and little bit more out of breath. "It is the brilliant beautiful, Sakura-san!"

Sakura grinned at Tenten and the brown haired girl couldn't help but fear for things much worse than her pain or her death; insanity, after all, reflected in the eyes of the pink-haired girl. "They can't kill me. Lee-san can't…" Sakura paused and cackled softly into Tenten's ear, "…won't kill me. I'll rip them away from you Tenten," Sakura murmured softly and the weapons mistress gasped in horror, "It'll hurt all the more."

"LEE RUN!"

Tenten had been the one to call him back.

_Weak_

Sakura stared down at the unmoving, bloody, green clad body that lay in front of her. He had stopped bleeding; there was no longer a heartbeat to make his blood flow out of his body. "Underestimated again," Sakura muttered with hesitation and looked over at the brown haired girl. Clarity was slowly coming back to Sakura as her tears began to yield. Only now were her actions finally clicking into place and she stopped herself from shuddering. She once again retracted her hands back into her cloak to prevent anyone from seeing them shaking.

Tenten was clutching her head and planting her face into her knee as she sobbed and convulsed from horror. She hadn't been able to move as the girl that he had loved had killed him. Lee had let himself be killed by the girl he had loved because he couldn't stand to fight her back. Lee hadn't even tried to save his own life, because Lee had always,_ always_, been made out of his love, "He loved you… he didn't fight you because he loved you, he didn't underestimate you…" Tenten sobbed. Never in her life had she thought that she would be the one to see her teammate fall.

Sakura walked towards her slowly as Tenten's head snapped up from the movement, "I'm not foolish," Sakura murmured slowly as she stood over the shaking girl who was trying to glare at her between her mangled body and soaked eyelashes, "I know who I'm weaker than and I know who should have won in this battle," Sakura continued to mutter.

"You KILLER!" Tenten gasped and stood up suddenly still trembling from the pain in her leg and balanced herself on the other, it seemed as though the injuries meant nothing now to Tenten. She grabbed onto the collar of Sakura's cloak and shook as hard as she could with her one powerful throwing arm. "You bitch, you sick, disgusting…"

Sakura barely registered the movement as she ran her hand over her weapons pouch and opened the snap. Her green eyes were empty as she played with the object in between her fingers. Nothing much around Sakura registered anymore, she just needed to get what she needed to get done and then she could leave this place and these people. She also needed to wash off the smell of Lee's blood.

Sakura brought her other hand up to remove the grip that her brown haired former companion had on her dark cloak and lowered the sniveling girl back down to the ground. "You don't have the energy to fight me Tenten, don't even try. You know you'll lose."

Tenten sobbed as she smacked Sakura's hand away from her and stared at the prone body that was lying out of her reach. "You killed him, why did you kill him?"

Sakura sighed and pulled the item she had stored in her weapons pouch out and held it in her palm. "Tenten, look at me. I know that you don't want to listen, but you will listen right now. Give this to Tsunade-sama when you get back to Konoha. You don't have to actually do it Tenten, but it's in your best interests to do so," Sakura whispered and took Tenten's hand. She carefully dropped the item into Tenten's palm, closed the shaking girl's fingers over the object and stood up.

Sakura had begun to walk away when she heard Tenten's weak voice call to her, "Y-you're not going to kill me but instead you're giving THIS to me?"

"No and yes," Sakura replied as she stopped in her steps and looked over her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"Why? Why all of this? What's _WRONG_ with you! You're not human anymore!"

Sakura smiled sadly and shrugged off her cloak. Slowly and almost tenderly she laid the cloak over Lee's body in a final farewell before turning away and disappearing into the forest, "Because in the end I'm just weak."

Sakura noticed that Tenten had lost consciousness and just prayed that the girl had had the sense to store away her gift instead of leaving it in the forest to become useless.

Sakura took to the trees and she located Kisame quickly, considering the man was making a giant ruckus with his jutsus, and made her way through the forest to appear behind him. "Kisame," Sakura called out.

"You done already?" Kisame grinned as he blasted the two warriors back.

Neji recognized the chakra signature that was talking to Kisame immediately and his eyes widened, "We need to go now Kisame."

"Aww, I was just having fun too."

"NOW Kisame!"

"Alright already, jeez bitch," Kisame grinned and looked back at the two downed shinobi, "I'll have my rematch with you two later. That is promise; I had too much fun today."

"I'm sure you did," Sakura muttered and looked up at Neji, "Check on your teammates. They will be needing you." And with that Neji watched the two nin disappear into the darkness.

"Neji, that was my greatest rival's only female student, was it not?" Gai asked as he pulled himself up and off of the ground.

Neji nodded before dashing into the forest to go find Tenten and Lee. Why hadn't Lee returned? Why hadn't Tenten? It had been more than enough time for her to recover and if they had been there, Hoshigaki Kisame could have been taken down. Something told him that nothing was going right, "Tenten…"

_Weak_

Tenten woke up four days later in the Konoha hospital with Neji, Gai-sensei and the remnants of Team 7 waiting for her at her bedside. Her blurry eyes and messed up senses registered the beeping of the heart monitor by her side and then the tears came running down her face.

She raised her arms to cover her face as tear upon tears come flooding out of her eyes, the memory wouldn't stop haunting her. For the rest of her life she would feel the guilt of calling Lee back to his death. "Lee… Lee, oh god Lee. She killed him, she… she killed him…" she whispered. Her body convulsed from the memory and Neji tried to gently hold her down so that her bones wouldn't slip.

She sobbed and shook in his arms for several more minutes with Neji only whispering her name, before anyone could bring up the courage to talk.

"Tenten, we're so sorry," Kakashi murmured, his silver hair had turned a sodden grey and his face looking bitterly old. He didn't look any better than the others that were sitting in the room. They had all been greatly affected by the encounter.

Gai wasn't even present. In all his life he had always respected the dead by living his own life to the fullest, but he hadn't been able to move from the cenotaph from the moment that the first letter had been etched onto its surface.

Tenten wiped at the tears on her face, "I need to talk to the Hokage," Tenten murmured and choked on her words as sobs fought there way back out of her throat.

The door snapped open, "The Hokage is here Tenten," Tsunade snapped and somehow managed to make the sound comforting. Tsunade pulled out an extra stool and made sure to sit beside the weapons mistress. She ran her glowing green hands up and down Tenten's arm to make sure that she had fully fixed the break.

Tenten nodded with tears still streaming down her face as she pulled at the collar of her shirt. She pulled out the small object that she had managed to store away in the moments before she had fallen to the darkness. She couldn't look at it anymore, all she could see were _her eyes_. "This… this is from Haruno Sakura," Tenten muttered and handed Tsunade a small vial with a uniquely green liquid held inside.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Haruno Sakura… is now declared as a missing-nin and her life must be terminated immediately."

"You made her into the ultimate threat. You practically put a death sentence on her!"

"Give me another chance, give me another chance to get her back to us."

"All of the pieces have fallen into place."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

For the last chapter... I got more than 1000 hits in one day... you have noooo idea how much that means to me you guys awww I love you alll!

For those of you who read my corner, you know that Behind will soon be coming to and end. Some of you might have heard of the contest called NaNoWriMo and that was actually what the structure of Behind was written for. Through editing and adding what started off as something that ended at 80,000 words has turned in the mega monstrosity it is now and you know what, I'm so happy for it. NaNoWriMo is coming up again which means that another structure for my next fanfiction will be written and as a favour to ask of my viewers I'm asking for a little help.

Woot woot, the next fanfiction is going to be heavily surrounding one date in the 365 day calendar and I need you to choose that date. What I want you guys to do (if you're interested) is to give me a date and tell me exactly what is so awesome about it. Normal holidays should be excluded since you know... we want that day to be extra special for Sasori/Sakura. The person with the best suggestion will be the winner of the contest and that date will be central to my next work. The first chapter will be dedicated to the winner and subsequent chapters will probably be dedicated to all of those that participated in the contest. So suggest a date and have fun explaining why that particular day in the year is awesome!

Once again, thank you to all my readers, now to the commenting on the story. So many comments O_O this chapter is just packed!

The glass that Sakura used to hurt Sasuke came from chapter 4 or 5 when she smashed the bottle that had previously held the poison that attacted Sasori to her.

When it mentions that she replaced two seals with one, it goes back to when she had first discovered the two genjutsus with Itachi and how the second genjutsu had let the victim see what they wanted most in that time. Sakura had quite literally taken them out of hell and put them in heaven.

MWAHAHAHA... yah. One thing that I will definately clarify, Lee would probably have beaten Sakura if he hadn't been in love with her. So no, she hasn't gotten as strong as him yet, but it would have been quite a fair fight if I do say so myself.

Tenten was the whole reason, and was chosen from the very first chapter, that Team Gai was chosen to be the back up but techinically she was also chosen because she was Lee's teammate and its a giant cycle of why them. The contrast between the two paths of equally hard pressed kunoichi is severely highlighted and its fun to do those kinds of things...

Just incase you didn't see it, Sakura's weakness is the fact that she still loves her team in someway although she had managed to modyly distance herself from the notion of "Konoha" and that she knows that she will never be fully at one with the Akatsuki. That's is why she could kill Lee and not anyone in Team 7.

So what's going to happen next? Well : D we'll see, warning... mush in the next chapter... absolute and total mush... I have no idea what I was thinking...


	26. Killers

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 26: Killers

"Tsu-Tsunade-sama! This is not the time… there is never a time… Tsunade-sama!" Shizune tried to shriek but found that she had no voice left to use. She had even tried to make a dive at the Hokage but also found that she had no energy left to expend. She slumped back in her seat and threw her head back as she sobbed into the crook of her arm. Genma lightly nudged her should with his palm and she twirled around to sob on his shoulder. He smiled weakly at his emotional, pregnant wife.

Tsunade merely waved her hand at her assistant to quiet her down as she drowned another bottle of sake in two gulps. Shizune's sobs only got worse and Genma rolled his eyes to the sky so that his wife wouldn't figure out that her grip was actually extremely painful. This bottle of sake would mark her fifth one for the night and Shizune's fifth tantrum. Genma, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, Gai, Tenten, Neji, Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi were all inside the office trying to keep as quiet as possible as Shizune drew herself into a frenzy due to the outright drinking of the Hokage.

Tenten was still wrapped up and healing while leaning heavily on Neji's side, his pale eyes screamed murder as he glanced at the brooding Team 7. Her broken arm was still in a sling and her leg in a cast; her eyes were glazed over slightly from painkillers as she tried to keep herself aware enough for the upcoming conversation. Tears were still running down her cheek as she flinched every so often from the sight of any pink shade bleeding into a crimson red. However, Neji's fingers dug gently into the side of the weapon mistress who was using him for support in more ways than one. "Shizune, if you weren't in that unpleasant, pregnant state at the moment you would be drinking too," Tsunade slurred as she waved at Shizune's showing stomach before throwing Genma half a glare. Genma held Shizune tightly as the woman shivered and tears brewed in her eyes once again.

Tsunade had given up trying to look even slightly like the leader of a village. She didn't have the effort in her any more as she slammed the bottle of sake down on the table and huffed a loud sigh. Turmoil was brewing on her brow and she wanted to cry, but she couldn't.

"Tsunade-baa…" Naruto murmured nervously.

Tsunade quickly pointed her finger at the blonde kyuubi and screamed without a hint of a slur in her voice, "You do not get to talk you little brat!" Apparently stress allowed for the Hokage to efficiently stream the alcohol out of her system the moment that it went in. It would explain the unexplainable amounts that she was drinking and why her slurring wasn't nearly as maimed as it used to be.

Naruto stepped back in fear and promptly shut his mouth. All of his injuries from the fight with Sakura just a week before had healed but wounds much deeper still raced within his mind and stabbed through his heart. Tsunade huffed as she threw her bottle of sake back onto the ground and grabbed another. The porcelain of the first bottle littered the floor along with its prior counter parts.

Tenten winced at the shattering sound, hearing only the crunching of bones and turned into Neji's side to hide her face from the world. Neji slowly covered her ears lightly so that if another bottle were to meet its end he could at least dull the pain for her.

Shizune tried to protest but the tears overflowed from her eyes before she could get in a single word. "It's okay," Genma murmured soothingly as he patted down the frayed ends of his wife's hair.

Genma was actually barely holding onto his own sanity himself, but he had to for the sake of all his soon to be crazy friends and for his already hysterical wife. He was the man who now had to stand in the rain and be the voice of reason. It wasn't usually his forte but he could handle it when times like this came. Genma turned his eyes to the copy-nin and noticed the tensed shoulders of the stagnant man.

"What are we doing here Tsunade-sama?" Ino asked quietly as she shifted behind Chouji; she didn't understand why Tenten was hurt, why Lee was missing, why Shizune was crying, why Team 7 was silent or why Tsunade was drinking herself into a stupor.

Tsunade sighed as she threw her feet off of her desk and swiped all of the paper work down onto the floor. The action only served to rile Shizune up even more as she burst into loud sobs again. The Hokage then proceeded to laugh maniacally as she clutched at her hair and began to pull at the long blonde strands. "Haruno Sakura…" Tsunade let go of her hair as she leaned forward on the desk with her elbows. She was trying to readjust herself. She needed to become the Hokage again.

"What's w-wrong with S-Sakura-san?" Hinata asked. She flinched when Naruto's gaze met hers and all she could see was the overwhelming sadness and guilt. Shino put a placating hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring nod moving to cover Naruto from her sight.

"Haruno Sakura…" Tsunade took in a deep breath and her eyes turned icy cold, "Haruno Sakura is now declared as a missing-nin and her life must be terminated immediately," Tsunade whispered with a hard resignation in her voice as she shook her head and looked up at the group in front of her. Her voice hasn't wavered, that was all that she had asked.

"WHAT?" Kiba growled as he launched up from his seat. His uproar managed to set off a chain reaction within the other spectators. The only four who had refused to stand in protest were Neji, Tenten, Gai and Kakashi, all for very different reasons.

Gai looked out the window. He did and did not want to here at the moment. He couldn't speak a word; he hadn't been able to for nearly a week now. All he wanted to do was go back to the cenotaph and stare at the name on the end of the list. He didn't want to do anything but that.

"What is going on Hokage-sama?" Shikamaru demanded.

"She was just on a mission!" Chouji exclaimed.

"Terminated?" Ino shrieked.

"Missing nin?" Sasuke tried to clarify.

"Tsunade-baa, that's going too far."

"SILENCE!" Tsunade demanded as she stood up with a bang of her fist on the hard wood. The desk beneath her snapped in half with a loud groan and her half empty bottle of sake rolled to the ground and spilled onto the floor. Tenten shrieked as blood splattered on her shoes and Neji quickly threw her over his lap so that she was sitting farther away from the flowing liquid. "Haruno Sakura was not just on any mission…" Tsunade murmured as the group sat down in the face of her unbelievable fury. She wasn't mad at them.

Tsunade sat down with a sigh and began the long story. The explanation took nearly an hour and even by the end, not everyone could believe what was being said. The only proof that had been presented to them was Tenten's shivering, Lee's missing presence and Neji's dark snarl. Team 7 had nothing to say. "Rock Lee was a good kid indeed," Tsunade murmured as her voice faded, "But he was not a child anymore when he died."

"Being prosecuted as a missing nin is still harsh," Ino whispered and cringed when Neji turned his dark stare onto the girl while gripping tighter onto Tenten's shaking form. Shikamaru shifted himself ever so slightly to place himself in between the Hyuuga and his teammate. No one but the two parties had noticed his movement.

Tenten sighed as she wiped away her tears with her free hand and rose up to look into the eyes of those around her with her own glassy stare, "Stop glaring at people Neji. Sakura is just… she's… I don't… I can't…" Tenten's face was once again twisted and mangled with uncertain pain and confusion so deep and dark that it was indescribable. "I don't understand her… I mean… I never spoke."

"She gave us an antidote," Shizune whispered meekly as Genma rubbed her stomach while scanning the crowd, "She had to have been controlled; she gave us the poison to create the antidote."

"She wasn't controlled," Kakashi stated tersely.

"A silly antidote doesn't fix death," Neji growled in defense of his fallen teammate.

Tenten lowered her head down and shifted uncomfortably, "Lee wouldn't have wanted Sakura to be declared as a missing nin," she murmured and flinched when Neji's head snapped towards her. In seeing her fear, Neji's eyes lost their intensity as he held her closer. "Lee wouldn't have wanted it but Lee's not here anymore. He's not here anymore Neji! Where's Lee?" Tenten murmured and cried as she descended once again into her own world.

"You wouldn't have declared Sasuke as a missing nin if he had left," Kakashi stated quietly and nearly accusingly as he tried to ignore the broken girl. He had seen too many people like her, had experienced too much pain, but it wasn't something anyone could ever get comfortable with.

"He hadn't presented the possibility of killing anyone from Konoha and more importantly he never actually defected from the village. We don't know if the circumstances would have changed if he had," Tsunade replied quickly.

"But I would have," Sasuke muttered and all the little noise around him died down. "Don't be foolish Tsunade, you and I both know that if I hadn't stayed to defend Konoha, I would have destroyed Konoha." Naruto's mouth gaped open and closed as he tried to defend his friend while knowing that he couldn't.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed as she bit her lip and controlled her voice, "Haruno Sakura is a missing nin," Tsunade reiterated and waved her hand to quiet down the upcoming buzz, her voice was hesitant as she uttered her next words, "She is so because she has something that none of you others have, not even Shizune. I would not have declared this so soon if the truth had been otherwise, but as it would seem, nothing of her past is going to ensure the survival of Haruno Sakura."

"What do you mean?" Shino asked quietly, "What does Sakura-san have that we do not?"

Shizune's eyes widened as she realized what Tsunade was referring to, "She has everything this village has to offer," Shizune whispered horrifically, "She knows everything and has the capacity to remember it all."

Tsunade nodded at her assistant, "She knows the structure of the village, the defense tactics that we employ, the profiles of every shinobi that had ever lived or died in this village, everything there is to know about Konoha, Haruno Sakura knows. Uchiha Sasuke might have been able to take down the whole village from strength alone, but we could have recovered from that in the end. We could have developed new strategies, utilized hidden weapons, but this… she has too much power, too much knowledge, she could wipe us off the face of history if she so wished. Sakura, if defined by any skill, is a tactician. She wasn't born a fighter, she wasn't born a healer, but she was born as a strategist and compounding that with the knowledge that she has received, she has a greater advantage than even the Nara clan. She can kill us all without us even knowing."

Kakashi didn't flinch although his eyes narrowed, that explained everything about how she knew about Rin.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto whimpered.

"You made her into the ultimate threat," Kakashi snarled suddenly his lack of silence slicing through the room. He was angry, furious in so many ways. "You practically put a death sentence on her! You did put a death sentence on her! Again and again…"

Genma quickly left Shizune's side to push Kakashi back into his seat by the shoulders before he could do something foolish like chidori the Hokage. "Shut up man…" Genma growled feeling just as frustrated as everyone else in the room. Kakashi glared at the man holding him down and sweat trickled down Genma's neck as he knew the sharingan was activated underneath the copy-nin's hitae-ate.

"Do you think I did this on purpose you undermining little brat Hatake?" Tsunade asked as her brown eyes flashed in fury, "I gave Sakura everything that she deserved and she had rightfully deserved all of that information. She would have been good as the next Hokage's assistant and that was what I was training her to be." Tsunade turned her eyes to Naruto whose blue eyes widened in shock.

"Would Sakura-san even reveal that information to the Akatsuki?" Shino asked retaining his calm for his teammates and the others that were in the room. "Her actions do not add up. She subdues her teammates, doesn't kill them, kills Lee, gives us the template for an antidote for the most lethal poison in the world, makes her teammate spare the life of Hyuuga Neji and Maito Gai who are obvious threats if she really has all the knowledge that she has and above that, if she _had_ told them everything that she knows, they would already be dead. Haruno Sakura hasn't said a word."

Tsunade laughed as she clutched as her head once again, "I would say not, but what's it to say that she isn't telling them right now. I was sure and convinced of her innocence too, a year ago I would never have thought that trusting her unconditionally would have resulted in this..."

"Shino's right though. Her actions are so convoluted that her intention is unclear. To have given the poison to Tenten, she would have had to plan ahead of time, before her fight, to store it on her person," Shikamaru stated.

"How strong is her relationship with the Akatsuki anyways? The poison was pure and in a bottle. Akasuna no Sasori gave it to her without question of her intention," muttered Shino.

"Sakura was twisted and in pain. Even if she hadn't killed Lee, she would have still given me the poison."

"Why are you defending her Tenten?" Neji asked quietly. Tenten chose to remain silent.

"But she is still irrational and dangerous," Shikamaru cut in. Ino glared at him heavily but he had always been one for logic and reason above emotion, "She has killed someone close and dear to her despite the antidote. Even if we didn't kill her as a missing nin… would bringing her back to Konoha mean having her back? Could we allow her to roam free again?" Silence ensued before Shikamaru thought that his notion had taken root in the minds of the others.

"How can you say that Shikamaru?" Naruto shouted as he launched himself at the genius.

Shikamaru didn't even flinch as Kiba and Shino held back the furious kyuubi. "I didn't know it at the time," Shikamaru stated, "But I had met up with Sakura during her 'mission' and at that time I couldn't believe how happy and content she looked," Shikamaru laughed, "Despite the bad news of Asuma-sensei's death that is…" The genius then proceeded to pull out a cigarette and light it at the mention of his old sensei's name. "No, I would gather that it would be impossible to bring Sakura back.

"You s-saw her with them?" Hinata asked timidly.

Shikamaru shook his head, "She had been alone, but she had been… exultant."

"That reminds me," Kiba muttered as he scratched his head, "We had come across her scent once while coming home from a mission as well."

"I-I remember that," Hinata murmured.

"Sakura-san has been fighting along side the Akatsuki for a while now," Shino stated, "Fighting with them… not against them. She wasn't even just sitting around and rotting while being held hostage or protected. She is as she was at the beginning of this year."

Team 7 noticeably flinched at the unintentional jab at their old team dynamic. Tsunade smiled weakly as a single tear slid down her cheek. The conversation between the kids was disconnected and incoherent, but it all meant on thing for her as the Hokage, "I'm sorry to all of you especially Team 7, but it is declared," she murmured with finality and took a look at Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi. "You will be the ones to hunt her down… and you must kill her. She will kill my faceless Anbu too easily if she can fight along with the Akatsuki indefinitely. It must be you."

"That won't make us any better than her," murmured Ino, "She kills Lee, we kill her… in the end all of us are just killers."

"It's not the same thing," Neji sneered.

"Give me another chance," Naruto muttered, "Give me another chance to get her back to us."

Tsunade sighed and pulled out another bottle of sake, "Fine. You get your chance to convince Haruno Sakura to come back, but it is either that or her life is terminated immediately. There are to be no in betweens; there is nothing else that you can do. I'm sending all of you out for this mission… no exceptions. We can't take the risk and this may be the only way to keep the majority of you alive."

"Tsunade-sama," Genma protested.

Tsunade growled and chugged half of the bottle down, "Except for Shizune, Genma and Tenten. The rest of you have been assigned this S-Class mission. Retrieve or kill Haruno Sakura and annihilate any other bastard Akatsuki members along the way."

Tsunade faded out. She couldn't listen anymore to the conversation that was revolving around her. She leaned back on the chair at her desk and stared out her window at the wide expanse of her village the Fire country. She had always known that being a Hokage meant making hard decisions, but she now understood just how the Sandaime Hokage had felt when he had declared Orochimaru a missing nin. The pain was unbearable, but the sense of duty had to be stronger. Tears glittered lightly on her cheeks.

"Where are we even supposed to start?" Ino snapped with tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe what something as simple as loneliness had come down to. Her blue eyes flashed with memories of her childhood with Sakura, of all the times that they had ever taken for granted.

"As I said before, I met up with Haruno Sakura… she hinted at being settled in one area," Shikamaru enunciated slowly so that he would be able to gage the reaction of his volatile teammate, hoping that she wouldn't attack him due to the aid he was handing out to the team in the locating and terminating of the pink-haired kunoichi. "I know which village she is residing nearby…"

"A village instead of a cave?" Chouji asked innocently.

"Which country?" Kiba asked.

Shikamaru nodded, "I didn't suspect anything at all and that is because they are still in the Fire country."

_Killers_

Sakura had stayed silent the entire trip back to their home. Kisame had noticed her mood and had decided to wisely keep his mouth shut as well. Kisame was often rash and reckless but unlike what others seemed to think, he was not foolish man.

However, the sword wielder had managed to shudder when he felt the emotion of worry race through his head, but pushed aside the notion the moment it had appeared. He had never worried about anyone in his whole entire life. Not even Itachi.

They continued to swing through the branches without any semblance of a pause and Kisame found that her speed was faster than how Sakura usually paced herself. "How did it feel?" Sakura asked quietly and suddenly as she landed nimbly on a tree limb before launching off again. She wasn't looking at him; she wasn't really looking at anything.

Kisame had barely even heard her over the rustle of the leaves but he replied just as curtly, "How did what feel?"

"Killing your comrades…"

"I'm a monster, I felt nothing over it."

Sakura didn't reply for a couple minutes as they reached the tree line and the lights from the little village shone brightly up at them. Both of them landed on their feet and the dirt around both of them stirred up in the night air. "I sometimes wish I was a monster too." She dug her hands into the pocket of her pants. Without her cloak the air only intensified the ice flowing through her veins.

Kisame snuck a glance at her figure as she moved in the shadows towards the little house that was nestled at the edge of town. He had never experienced the kunoichi's saddened moods before and he found that he preferred her unsightly punches to her somber face. She had spoken first, so he had found no harm in finally letting his mouth run, "What the fuck happened out there?"

"Guess," Sakura murmured as they entered the empty dirt streets. She shivered slightly and Kisame rolled his eyes at her. He quickly unstrapped the Samehada and shrugged of his cloak. He casually threw the garment over her head as he strapped the weapon back onto his back. She looked up at him with wide doe like eyes.

"You killed someone. So what? That was what you had intended to do from the start, am I right?"

Sakura scoffed before smiling sadly, "Yah, but that brings up the two problems. One, I killed the wrong person and two I feel terrible about doing so despite my intentions."

"I see, you being wishy washy."

"In the end I'm still just a weak little girl who has never managed to grow up."

"You've grown. At the beginning of this adventure, something like this would have destroyed you."

Sakura chuckled, "Then maybe I am a monster."

"No more than the rest of us."

"More than I've ever known," Sakura stated as she threw open the front door to their household, "We're home."

Deidara had run out of the living room first to greet the two but slid to a stop as he observed the kunoichi's somber face, "Neh, what happened out there? Yeah, something must have gone wrong." Deidara leaned down to stare at Sakura's face and used his thump to wipe of a smudge of dried blood.

Sakura smiled up at him and Deidara cringed as her green eyes stayed hollow, "Nothing out there went wrong," Sakura stated as she slipped off her shoes, "It just went as I had fear that it would go." Deidara nodded reluctantly as he threw a glance at Kisame. The sword wielder merely shook his head in response and Deidara backed away from the girl who brushed right past him.

"Sakura…" Itachi asked as he appeared at the doorway of the living area. She didn't even respond to his presence as she continued to move down the hall and towards her bedroom. "I see. We will talk later then." Sakura nodded as she grabbed the edges of Kisame's cloak and pulled it closer around her shoulders.

"It has happened then," Sasori stated as he stood up from his place on one of the couches. He looked at her although his mind told him to pull away. She was weak and he knew it with all of his non-existent heart and yet that very same heart cried out for him to touch her.

"It seems as though that is so," Itachi murmured as he stared at her. He didn't have to ask to know. She hadn't been able to kill them. They hadn't been able to breed her into an absolute monster of her former self.

Itachi's eyes were on the verge of bleeding red as he took in the fact that he could see every single little detail about the girl before him; it wasn't something he had been able to do at the beginning of their year. He didn't know anymore what their actual mission was, because although she hadn't killed the trump cards of the Fire country, as was the original objective of taking her in, she had done others. She might have even done even more. He continued to only stare at her hopelessness wondering why failure suddenly was not as defined as he had always believed it to be.

"What has happened?" Deidara asked curiously. Deidara knew too, of course that their original objective had fallen to pieces. Manipulation had no longer been their intention or purpose in taking her in, it hadn't been since they had admitted it to themselves half a year prior. But what was to become of their team now, how could the Akatsuki ever accept such disgrace, such emotion and failure. His face twisted slightly as the thoughts ran and ran.

"All of the pieces have fallen into place," Itachi replied as he watched Sakura turn and disappear into the bedroom, "For a different story to take its course." Sasori stayed for only a little while longer before following after the pink haired girl.

"Pieces for what?" Kisame asked as he unstrapped the Samehada from his shoulders and allowed it to rest against the wall.

Itachi turned his coal eyes towards the two as they watched Sasori approach the door to the room, "For the finale of the biggest fight of our lives."

"You mean…" Deidara murmured.

Kisame blinked, "Escape…"

"I mean that we can finally break free of the Akatsuki."

_Killers_

Sasori only registered what Itachi had said to the two other members as he opened the door to their bedroom. Sakura was lying on the bed with an arm covering her eyes and Kisame's cloak splaying out beneath her.

Sasori floated to her side and gently lifted her up enough to pull the cloak from out beneath her and throw it to the side. "Good time to be having a jealous streak," Sakura murmured light heartedly.

"It had ended as you had expected." Sasori took a seat beside her as she threw her legs over the side of the bed and snuggled up in the corner.

"Everything is hazy like a fog," Sakura murmured as she shifted and leaned against Sasori's shoulder. She clutched her knees tightly to her chest.

"It has always been a fog for you."

"I can't deny that it has. Have you and Itachi known all along?"

"You have never been very good at acting. Deidara and Kisame have known as well."

"That would explain Kisame's strange quietness."

"He might have killed you if it had been any other way."

"I don't doubt it."

"I would kill him."

"I still don't doubt it."

"You do not doubt very much."

Sakura turned her head so that her chin was on Sasori's shoulder, "Then whatever became of your purpose? Tell me that you aren't like them, that now that I haven't killed them that you will leave me behind." Images played in her head as her heart clenched. Nothing had chained in that little village that had encompassed all of her life.

"You have no inkling of the workings of Itachi's mind."

"I don't know if that should horrify me or not."

"He killed his clan and left his brother behind out of love."

"I don't have a clue do I," Sakura laughed dryly as she took her chin off Sasori's shoulder and leaned her head on his arm.

"You and him can become very similar."

"If I take that last step into insanity you mean?"

"Indeed."

"Ha… so what is it Sasori, what is it like to know the depths of Itachi's mind?"

"It is convoluted, selfish and absurd."

"That doesn't tell me anything that I don't already know."

"He wants escape, we all want escape."

Sakura blinked and turned to him, "What?"

"Escape is different for every man, but in the end it is one thing for us."

"That tells me nothing!" Sakura shrilled, "What are you talking about? So you haven't been using me to destroy Konoha. That hasn't been your intention from the very beginning? Tell me something, tell me anything that will keep me from believing that you will leave me too."

"That has been the Akatsuki's intention."

"You're making it sound like you are separate from the Akatsuki."

"It is escape."

"I can't deal with your…"

"Have you ever wondered why we are a group of four? Why Kisame and Itachi are so close? We have found that we all have the same intentions, the same unspeakable, nearly unattainable want."

"You want to escape…?"

"Kisame is a man, as you may have noticed, who likes to be identified by his name rather than his affiliation. Do you not find he gets more excited about the kill when an opponent recognizes him as a threat name instead of the Akatsuki?" Sasori asked.

Sakura recalled Kisame's unspeakable want to always fight Hatake Kakashi.

"Deidara is free, he does not like working under rules and regulations. His art is his life. Something like the Akatsuki holds him down. He was pulled into this organization by force."

The creation of Deidara's most likeness was the bird on which he soared.

"Itachi loves nothing but his brother and cares for very little but himself."

Sakura didn't understand but understood all the same. Itachi's eyes, Itachi's remaining life… all of it wasn't for him. "And you… what about you?"

Sasori looked at her solemnly, "I am eternal. Everything will pass in time. The Akatsuki will fall, my name will change, freedom is nothing; there is only one thing that that truly means escape for me. The Akatsuki is just tying me down."

"That's so…"

"And you wish for escape too."

"I what?"

"You are not tied in the same way as us, but you are tied none the less. You are restricted by your past, your fears, by the fact that you have been left behind."

"And what does this…"

"You might not have ever been part of the Akatsuki, but since the beginning you have been part of us."

"That's stupid."

"It is unspeakable and true."

Sakura's eyes widened, "I see. So now…"

"So now we shall escape."

"So you…"

"I know you like the back of my hand. From the moment that I saw you step into the house, I knew what was crossing your mind."

"You created the back of your hand."

"Indeed."

"But… how can you accept something like that. Doesn't that make me weak?"

"Weakness is falling to your fears."

"But this can't be something that you want…"

"We are killers. Death comes with killing."

Sakura blinked and turned to face the wall… "Indeed."

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Stop referring to her that way Shikamaru! She's just Sakura… just big foreheaded Sakura…"

"I know, but I can't help it. Must be all my snively, girly feelings from my days back in Konoha."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

The beginning of that chapter... good, kept it all the same... the second part was annihalted and redone to better match the flow of the story and the intention of the Akatsuki. More than that... I could not stand... the mush. Originally the whole Sasori and Sakura debate thing didn't happen... and instead they started dancing or something to make her feel better which... just doesn't work in the whole scheme of things. The new second part well... It's confusing, it's confounded and if you understand it, oh thank god...I'll explain more later...

Half the length of the previous chapter... ha... good try on my part XD

I have nothing more to say about this chapter... that was hard, but worth it...

And dear reviewers and readers... jeez I love you all.


	27. Friends

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 27: Friends

"I see that we are both on the same train of thought," Itachi stated as he sat down on the couch in the living area. He leaned forwards and rested his elbows on his knees and his chin on the back of his fingers. "Sasori has told you everything I suppose?"

Sakura nodded as she set down five small drawstring bags on the table before sitting down as well. She rested her elbows on her knees and brushed her hair out of her face with a prolonged sigh. "You and I both know what's going to happen now."

"I have known long before you have, of our fate." Itachi watched the exhausted girl closely. She wasn't exhausted as though she was physically tired, but she was exhausted mentally and emotionally. He wanted to make sure that she wouldn't do something stupid in that exhaustion. "I have known since I have started training you. Every time you talk about them you dare not speak enough of hate, but I couldn't take the chance of voicing alternatives. Either way, the fact that we have gathered as a group of four means that it would have come down to this."

"That's good to know. It's nice having some reassurance that I'm not the reason for everything that is happening right now."

"We were always destined to face Konoha eventually, whether we would face them separate or together, that is the one Hidden Village that I trust to put up a fight against the Akatsuki and do our work for us well. And if it were not to be Konoha, than it would be Suna or so on. If you had not come to us when you had, I am sure you would have been on the other side of this fray. Instead of escaping you would be allowing us to escape."

"I greatly doubt that. No one in Konoha would've trusted me enough to face on an Akatsuki member on my own. Or at least no one would have trusted me with that task as long as the rest of Team 7 was there. No one would even notice me in that case. I would have been trapped forever."

"No matter, let's not dwell on what could have been," Itachi knew when to put topics to rest, "The Akatsuki is an organization that was built on the foundation of missing nins. Fighting against the Hidden Villages is one of our many uses in order to find a means to an end. We are dispensable compared to those who really control the Akatsuki and to Deidara and Kisame, that is unacceptable."

"Dispensable? I would never have thought that you would call yourself dispensable Itachi," Sakura snorted derisively as she peaked at him through her fingers.

"I have never made myself out to be dispensable because I have always had my own motives for joining the Akatsuki out of my own free will."

"Sasuke."

"You are correct."

"What about the others? Are they dispensable as well?" Sakura asked as she shifted in her seat.

"Less dispensable now than they had been when they had first joined. We had all been just made missing nin at the time that we were recruited, a little bit malleable, no set goal in mind. Now we have developed and we have our own desires and wants that cannot be held within the borders of such an organization."

"Will the Akatsuki try to put a rut into our plans? Will they try to stop what is going to happen?" Sakura asked wearily.

"No. They will not interfere. After all we are still technically fighting against Konoha and that in itself is all the Akatsuki need. However, they will not be happy and those that… well they will come looking for those who they can find."

Sakura smiled up at him weakly as she leaned off of her knees and rested her head on the back of the couch. "We are going to need to think quickly and act surely then, which means that its good that no one else will butt their heads in. I'm confidant that Shishou and them are not going to waste that much more time coming after us now that I have killed one of their own. After all it had only taken them days, if even, to locate Hidan and Kakuzu after Asuma-sensei's death."

"Did you not cover up your tracks when you headed back towards the village after your fight? Hidan and Kakuzu were never ones to be inconspicuous in their travels."

"Kisame did, but that isn't the problem. Do you remember during that time when the autumn festival was taking place some seven months ago?"

"Yes."

"Well the shinobi that I had met at that time, Nara Shikamaru, was not only Asuma-sensei's student but also one of the most brilliant shinobi within the village. Something as important as meeting me in this area, especially with my stupid excuse for a mission and secrecy, is sure not to slip his mind. I'm convinced that either way they are going to be coming for us soon and that there will be no mistakes in regards to location."

"Well, that simply gives us more time to prepare and better yet, we know this area much better than they do."

"I guess so…"

"You do not have to worry Sakura. What ever happens will happen; there is nothing that you could have done to prevent the inevitable. And this confrontation was inevitable."

"I guess…" Sakura murmured before a thought popped into her brain, before she could banish it back into the dark recesses of her mind the words slipped from her lips, "By the way Itachi, how is your illness? Has the continuing treatment been working for you?" Sakura asked suddenly as she turned her green eyes to face his dark coal ones. It had been months since she had last seen them bleed and she took that for a good sign in the delaying of his death. Just yesterday she had delivered another dose of healing chakra into his system hoping to stave off the disease for the upcoming fight.

"The disease is still progressing faster than your jutsu can heal, but that is beside the point. Your healing technique keeps the healing chakra in my system long after you have removed the source. As the disease wears away at me, the chakra repairs the damage, although at a slower rate, it is still extremely effective and yesterday would have been the last day for you and I. I no longer need to prolong my life."

"Amazing how much you can deduce from your own body Itachi. Not many people can do that," Sakura smiled weakly as Itachi nodded as though his achievement were insignificant.

"It is important that I keep track of where I am in my mortality."

"Tch, so every week when I 'recharge' you…"

"You are simply pumping more healing chakra into my system and with every recharge you get faster and more energy gathers making the technique more effective. It only takes you five minutes now compared to in the past, and about twice as much chakra is drained into my system," Itachi gave Sakura a reassuring smile and Sakura tried to smile back. Five minutes was still pathetic for any kind of legitimate jutsu; in that period of time she could be killed a million ways over. Unless the person she was fighting with was an incurable motivational speaker. "So depending on unforeseeable circumstances, if you were to disappear right this instant, I would suspect that your chakra would keep on healing my system for approximately six more months before disappearing as well. But my health is a worse case scenario."

"That's a pretty good time span for not over exerting myself," Sakura scoffed. Now that Itachi had mentioned everything he had, she couldn't stop the thoughts from buzzing around in her head. The feeling made her want to vomit. She didn't deserve to be here. She hadn't changed at all in the year that she had been gone.

"You call fainting on every other occasion not over exerting yourself?"

"I've had much worse before Itachi; it comes with being on the same team as the 'last Uchiha' and the kyuubi," Sakura laughed dryly, "Oh right, training with the Godiame Hokage does things to you too."

"Ah…"

"When will they be back? We should devise a plan soon or technically… talk about the plan soon."

"When they have completed their mission. It should not be very long now. Sasori seems to feel like leaving your side is disastrous considering how you returned to him two days ago."

Sakura laughed at Itachi's small attempt to cheer her up and found that she much preferred this Uchiha to the other one of her younger days. "Sucky time to have a mission."

"The others, well Kisame and Deidara, did not believe that anything more would happen after this. Sasori of course was reluctant. But I assume that you already knew that."

"Of course Sasori would see just as much as you and I."

"Ah. So you seem to have some equipment prepared. I therefore deduce that you already have a plan in mind."

"I do," Sakura replied and smiled at Itachi, "It will probably make everyone happy, it takes in account everything that I know and most of all it guarantees you, your fight with Sasuke."

"I have a feeling I already know your plan."

"Why am I not surprised? Let it hope that it is the same as mine, for my plan is what is going to be carried out."

Sakura laughed, "Then let's here your plan."

_Friends_

"We will be setting out tomorrow morning. We can't waste anymore time than we already have," Shikamaru declared as he smacked the pointer that was held in his hands on to the map attached to the wall, "The village where I encountered Haruno Sakura is located here on the northern border of the Fire country, so I expect them all to be located within the vicinity. The Akatsuki are probably lodging in the large forest that is nearby."

"The Akatsuki and Sakura…" Ino whispered feebly in the back corner of the room.

"Even if they are not currently residing there any longer, if they are smart, which we know that they are, they will be expecting us to come soon so we must act accordingly. I don't expect them to run considering how confrontational Haruno Sakura..."

"Stop referring to her that way Shikamaru! She's just Sakura… just big foreheaded Sakura!" Ino screamed as she stood up and knocked her chair over. Her whole entire body was shaking in half anger and half sorrow as she locked eyes with the man she loved.

Shikamaru blinked at her calmly as Ino's blue eyes blazed as him. He let out a prolonged sigh and nodded his head; he couldn't deny the woman even if he tried. It made it ten times harder now that he was in a relationship with her. "Troublesome… Considering how confrontational _Sakura_ was during her meeting with Team 7 and Team Gai. The only access to the area that is strategic to their position and our position is by crossing this river…"

"I hate that river," Naruto snarled as he leaned back in his chair for their mission debriefing. Shikamaru scoffed as he was once again interrupted, but this time by someone he didn't inertly want to be lenient on. Tsunade had put him in charge of the mission and the group in front of him was not a group designed for a mission as such. He hadn't know why it hadn't been Kakashi-sensei or Gai-sensei at first, but after examining them closely it could be seen that losing teammates, in two very different senses, had thrown both of the natural leaders off their game.

"Hating a life giving factor of nature is stupid," Kiba stated as he rested his cheek on the palm of his hand.

A murmur picked up in the crowd again. "Tch," Shikamaru scowled with irritation, everyone was making this mission briefing more troublesome for him than it already was.

Sasuke coughed to gain attention before speaking, "That is the place in which we have lost Sakura for the first and second time." The mumbles died back down as Shikamaru threw Sasuke an appreciative nod.

"Ah…" Shino mumbled as he crossed his arms and nodded in understanding. His glasses shone as he snuck a peak over at those who had been present for the first fight against Sakura.

Neji was still stiff, but he seemed to have relaxed considerably since earlier in the day in the Hokage's office. It must have been something to do with spending more time with Tenten in the hospital during the couple hour interlude. Those two now had a bond stronger than it had ever been before, in light of the death of Rock Lee.

Kakashi had stayed silent all the day. All he seemed to be focused on was the strategic play that Shikamaru was devising and considering that no comments had been made; Kakashi had found no flaws so far with their intention.

Naruto was still irritable and Shino frowned in displeasure that Naruto's irritability was also affecting his own female teammate. Hinata was somehow shouldering Naruto's pain without the boy noticing and Shino didn't like that one bit.

Sasuke had little to say, but it could be confirmed that he too was affected by the defection of their female teammate. Everyone had thought that he would be the one to go, but he was still here and she was not. Every circumstance that had led to this moment could have been pinpointed on the last Uchiha if time had fallen differently and Sasuke knew it too.

"As said, we will be heading out tomorrow morning and we will move as quickly as possible. The village is less than a day away from the river so I believe that that place shall be where we will take our rest before the battle. Although there is a chance that the Akatsuki will take the battle to different locations, the fact that they have purposely chosen the river for attack twice means that a third time will be likely. If not, we can track them with Akamaru from there. The Akatsuki are no laughing matter, we will already be cutting down one day in getting to the river by using more chakra, so no one will argue with me about resting one more night to get recharged."

"Are we over looking the actions of the Akatsuki, after all aren't you saying that they will be expecting us? Aren't we just walking into a trap that way?" Chouji asked as he chomped down on his bag of chips. He had been on the same team as Shikamaru for forever and he could pinpoint things that needed to be thought about quicker than others although he could never find a solution to those things himself.

Shikamaru nodded at him and gave him a brief smile, Chouji nodded back in reply as he leaned back on his chair, "We have here the profiles of the four Akatsuki members. We don't have much on any of them, but it seems to me that Akasuna no Sasori and Uchiha Itachi are the prime strategists."

"We just need to look into how they have fought in the past in order to gage their strategy, correct?" Neji asked as he crossed his arms. He seemed slightly on edge considering Tenten had not come to the meeting and was no longer by his side. He was also sitting closer to Gai than he had ever permitted himself to in the past.

"Exactly," Shikamaru replied, "And lucky for you people, I've already looked over the files and have fully analyzed them. They fight in pairs more often than not and especially when in a confrontation with formidable foes. When they are not in pairs, it seems as though they are not nearly as strong. That deduction comes from how out of sync Hidan and Kakuzu had become the moment they lost sight of each other. The only flaw with this is that now they have an odd number of people, so Har- Sakura will likely join one pair to become a group of three."

"I want to be in the squad that fights Sakura-chan!"

"You're over looking something very significant Shikamaru," Kakashi stated quietly and snappishly.

Shikamaru ignored Naruto and turned to the silver-haired man, "And what would that be?"

"Sakura is a natural strategist too."

"The Akatsuki won't let her change the way they fight," Kiba scoffed, "Not unless they fully trust her and her mind is as one of theirs."

"Which hers isn't," Ino declared venomously.

Sasuke and Kakashi threw each other looks before sinking back into their chairs. Kakashi crossed his arms and said no more. Most of the others seemed to have agreed with Kiba and Ino's declaration. Kakashi himself, no longer knew what to think. Tsunade had been right in choosing emotionally stable Shikamaru in leading the mission. Kakashi was over thinking things. He was living in a haze of fear from what had happened nights ago. His usually excellent and clear memories were blurred with his memories of Rin and Obito and he could sort them out well enough to say or strategize anything. Kakashi wondered is Sakura had intentionally planned for that to happen when she had decided to spare his life. He was devastated to admit that he didn't know her well enough to know.

"Even if she is a natural strategist and even if she has been fully integrated," Shikamaru ignored Ino's hiss with a wince, "I greatly doubt that she will change a system that has already been ingrained fully into the organization and something that they are used to."

"But w-what if S-Sakura-chan does?" Hinata asked quietly.

"Then we will need to act like how we were taught to act when something doesn't go right. We are shinobi, most of the time things just don't go right, but let's just hope for the sake of this village and for Sakura that they do."

"Well spoken," Gai attempted to beam.

"Are there any more questions before we assign squads?"

Shikamaru took the deafening silence as a no.

_Friends_

"Dinner first, talk later," Kisame growled as he slammed the door shut behind him.

"I thought you would say that guppy," Sakura replied with a smirk, "I just finished cooking, everything is already set up in the kitchen. Itachi has also probably started without you; we didn't know when you guys would be back. Also don't worry, I told him not to touch your personal fish."

"Good woman…"

"Bastard."

"Evening Sakura," Sasori stated with a roll of his eyes. Sakura smiled up at him as her eyes shone.

"Evening Sasori."

"Oh, will you two go do your icky thing someplace else and stop choking me with your nasty air?" Kisame scowled again as he tromped down the hall towards the kitchen.

Deidara laughed merrily as he pushed past the couple, "He's just angry because I blew everyone up before he had the chance to even get close, yeah. Oh and then there was also that shinobi called him Kisagaki Hoshi…" the explosives wielder grinned happily as he flashed a smirk back to the pink haired girl, "Thank you for the dinner Sakura, yeah."

"Ah…"

"Both of them are useless imbeciles," Sasori muttered.

Sakura merely laughed as she took Sasori's hand in hers. "Let's get you changed, you have dirt stuck in your hair you know? How close did Deidara get to you this time?"

"Much too close for comfort to say the least. That buffoon's art is in no way tactful or beautiful."

"As I've heard you say many times," Sakura giggled as she dragged him down the hall and towards their bedroom. "Take a shower, I already put aside some extra food just in case knowing that Kisame is no where as considerate as Itachi."

"Indeed," Sasori muttered as he stripped out of his shirt and threw the article on to his bed. Sakura blinked and stared as he disappeared behind the washroom door. No matter how many times he had done that in the past, she would never get over his incredible, though forever frozen, form.

Sakura pulled out a set of his clothes and laid them on their bed before flopping down on the mattress. She inhaled the sandalwood scent that lifted all around her and noticed that it had changed since her first day here. Sakura laughed as she realized the change had to do with her. The bed now smelled like _them_.

"Why are you crying?" Sasori asked as he pulled on his shirt. Sakura's eyes snapped open and she realized that she had closed them more than five minutes ago. Sasori took the place of his clothing carefully and pulled her gently into his arms.

Sakura inhaled his scent again and reveled in the feeling of his body next to hers, "I missed you while you were gone today."

"It was only for a short duration."

"I know, but I can't help it. Must be all my snively, girly feelings from my days back in Konoha."

"Hm, I missed your presence as well."

Sakura looked up at him in wonder as he gave her back a small smile. Sakura nodded happily before leaning back into his touch, "I want to be beside you like this, Sasori, until the end of our lives."

"Now you are being snively and girly."

"I won't live forever…"

"You could…"

Sakura smiled sadly, "No Sasori. Even if I ever were to change my mind, there is no chance that I would be able to live forever. Plus, being a puppet still irks me to know end."

"Indeed. You would not be the same obstinate Sakura otherwise." She laughed as Sasori brought her closer, "I think we need to go eat now. Kisame might be able to seek out your hidden food if you give him more time. The refrigerator, after all, is not that clever of a hiding place."

"Okay," Sakura murmured as she stood up, "Wait… how did you know?" He just allowed a smirk to grace his lips as he shook his head at her. Sasori stood along with her and grabbed the chair at his desk as they both glided out of the bedroom and down towards the kitchen. It sounded like Kisame was still loudly complaining about Deidara by the time they had arrived.

"And this is why Itachi and I are good as a team. He isn't a fucking bastard who would go around stealing all of the kills."

"I didn't steal any kills," Deidara snickered, "You're just being sore about being slow. Slow, fishy man, yeah!"

Itachi shook his head and regarded the entering couple, "I'm glad you have finally made it. Good to have some sensibility in the room."

"I'm sensible Itachi, yeah, I am and you know it."

"No sensible person would think your art is better than mine," Sasori snapped as he pulled out his chair and placed the one in his hand beside him where Sakura could sit.

"Not this bullshit again," Kisame snapped as he shoveled a pile of rice into his mouth and chewed like a mad man.

"I'm glad your sensible too Itachi," Sakura snickered and grinned along with the smirk that the Uchiha threw her. She sat down at the table with a new plate of food much to Kisame and Deidara's delight.

"Ah… it's been a nice change of pace for the past year."

"I couldn't agree more, yeah."

"So Itachi said that you have something important for us," Kisame stated as he placed down his empty bowl of rice signifying to the world that he was finished his dinner.

Sakura chewed through her food slowly as she placed down her half empty bowl. "I'll go get them right now, I guess something like this could easily be talked over at the dinner table for people like you." Sakura stood up and exited the room as Sasori watched her through the corner of his eyes.

"It has to do with the fight, yeah?" Deidara asked Itachi as he poked at the new dish and finished off his bowl of rice as well.

Itachi nodded with crossed arms as he stood up to remove some of the empty plates on the table. Sakura returned moments later with the five drawstring bags that she had shown Itachi earlier. "These are your presents."

"What are they?" Sasori asked as he gingerly retrieved his bag from Sakura who smiled at him sweetly.

"Radios," Sakura replied simply, "So that we can keep in contact with each other for as long as needed. Itachi and I fixed the ones that were broken from the last time we used them. After that you can just dispose of them quite easily. We won't need them anymore after this fight."

"The last time we used radios was when we were at the star base in the Water country," Kisame muttered as he removed his radio from the bag and noted that it was a lot more compact than it had been back then. The strap that was to be secured around his neck also looked a lot more breakable.

Sakura nodded, "I remember. We're using them again because we will be fighting in a familiar way as we did back then."

"What's the plan?" Sasori asked as he set the radio back down on the table and peered over at the kunoichi.

"We're going to work in a formation similar to the time in Water country this time so that the right opponents will get to the right people. We are going to form a line of sorts where when all of the Konoha nin come towards us they will first hit one person, that person will hold back as many people as possible and the rest will file down the line in order to hit the next opponent. It's going to be like a river of sorts."

"Why this strategy?" Sasori asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sakura smiled at him, "Because we have different goals in mind for this battle. Kisame wants a good fight with people who want a good fight with him. This way he can pick and choose if he's the first in line."

"I like the plan already…"

"Deidara likes to have many opponents in a wide space with an easy escape by air so he would be best in the position of second in line."

"Yeah, I approve so far."

"Sasori… you are more of an interlude than anything else at the moment," Sakura nervously stated as she wrung her hands under the table while trying not to stutter. Itachi threw her a pitying glance and hoped that Sasori didn't notice her lack of reasoning for his placement. "You can stop many shinobi… if they somehow get past Kisame and Deidara… because of your puppet techniques of course. Only those who personally want to face me will be able to fight past you. You and I will be close together, almost beside each other."

"Understood."

"Will Itachi be in a triangular formation to you two then?" Kisame asked.

Sakura shook her head, "No he won't," she murmured as she threw a glance at Itachi who nodded. "He will be in last in line. Itachi has a personal vendetta and placing him last will be the best. There is only one Konoha nin that won't stop to face me and that shinobi is…"

"Itachi's little brother, Uchiha Sasuke."

"Exactly. So I'll be forth in line, because everyone else's goal lies with me. Only Sasuke will continue to hunt for the last Akatsuki member."

"Where will we be carrying out this plan, yeah?" Deidara asked.

Sakura smiled as she pulled out a map. "Kisame will be located here at the river, the farthest away from the village and where he has an advantage, something I over looked last time. Deidara will be a safe distance away from him, here where his explosives won't get in the way of Kisame's fight and there is a lot of open space for a good aerial view. Sasori will be located here close to me because technically neither of us are as long distance fighters as Deidara, and Itachi will be positioned here, upon his personal request."

"Reasonable enough, when will we be setting out," Sasori asked as he leaned over to observe the five locations that Sakura had pointed out while grabbing her one shaking hand.

Sakura closed her eyes, squeezed his fingers tightly and smiled sadly, "As soon as we are packed, we can't waste that much more time. I wouldn't put it past Konoha to be sending out their forces soon."

Sasori nodded and stood up from his spot. Sakura tapped her chopsticks against her bowl before she decided that she couldn't eat anymore. She watched Sasori exit the room, knowing fully well that he had interpreted her reasoning for his closeness in the battle.

Deidara watched her with knowing eyes as she started to clean everything up and was the only one that followed her to the kitchen. "What's the matter Deidara? Was there actually something you didn't approve of?"

"No everything was perfect for me, yeah. After the battle, I'll leave."

"As was the intention of the set up," Sakura assured as she threw the bones and left over food into the garbage. There was no longer any need for leftovers. This was going to be their last time at the dinner table in this house.

"I'm sorry, you've heard everything haven't you, yeah?"

"I've known for a long time now," Sakura murmured, "Don't feel like you've used me."

"I don't feel that way, yeah."

"You don't," Sakura asked with a surprised chuckle as she looked up at Deidara as she placed the dishes into the sink.

"Nah," Deidara confirmed as he leaned against the counter. There was a moment of silence as Sakura awkwardly stared at her closest friend for the past year, so it came as a surprise to her when he held out his hand. "I'll probably never see you again Sakura."

"You probably won't," Sakura affirmed as she reached out her own hand to shake his.

The handshake was firm and reassuring and Sakura giggled when Deidara pulled her in for a hug, "We had a good time, yeah?"

"A really good time."

"I'll say bye, now, yeah?"

"Yeah."

Deidara let go of her shoulder but not of her hand, "Good-bye Sakura. You were a good… friend."

"Good-bye Deidara, you were too."

Deidara tilted his head and grinned as her and Sakura squealed in shock when his tongue licked the palm of her hand. She watched him walk out of the kitchen with a wave and leaned heavily against the sink.

With a sniffle and a groan she buried her face into the palms of her hands and began to cry. To these people who had accepted her with all their twisted hearts, she couldn't believe that she was saying good-bye.

_Friends_

"What's that noise?" Naruto muttered as he rolled out of bed and tumbled towards the front door. He opened it with a loud squeak and on the other side Chouji stood clothed, fully prepared to fight.

"We are to report to the gate immediately," Chouji stated.

"But it's only one o'clock at night, we're supposed to leave tomorrow morning," Naruto mumbled incoherently as he rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands.

Chouji clamped onto his arm with one large hand and glared at the kyuubi. Naruto was taken back from the stare the Akimichi was giving him, realizing that he had never seen Chouji as such before, "We are to report to the gate immediately," Chouji reiterated, his tone anything but the usual soft lumbar before he backed away and continued on his route.

Naruto nodded as he scurried back into his apartment and began to gather all of his things. Most of his fighting possessions were already stuffed into his backpack considering that he never truly unpacked any thing, but he needed to lighten his load. They didn't need camping supplies for this mission as much as they needed their tools of the trade. Naruto pulled on his clothes as well, not the Anbu garments that Tsunade had given him, but his own clothes, the ones that he had worn the last time he had seen Sakura-chan as their Sakura-chan.

Naruto slung the pack over his back and leapt out of his apartment into the cool night air. By the time he reached the looming gate most of the others had also arrived. Kakashi had even shown up the moment that Shikamaru had knocked on his door. Naruto raised an eyebrow as he saw that Shiranui Genma was there as well. "Oi, what are you doing here?"

"Shizune doesn't need me here in Konoha right now. The only reason she's staying is because she's the one with the baby, and we both want little Sakura-chan back," Genma muttered as he adjusted his gloves, "I couldn't keep away her monsters back then, but I don't plan to fail this time."

Naruto paused as Genma threw him a look that he couldn't recognize, but pushed down the feeling of guilt as it came from seeing the man's eyes. "How were you informed?" Naruto muttered as he switched his gaze and trailed over the others that were lounging around the gate. The only ones that were still not present were those from Team 10.

"I was at Kakashi's when Shikamaru came knocking. Shizune had something for him and we needed to talk."

"He nearly ripped my collar off of my vest warning me not to waste time in getting here," Kakashi stated with a tired tone as he tried to avoid Genma's gaze, "And yet he's still not present."

"I am present Kakashi," Shikamaru stated as he landed on the ground with Chouji by his side. Both of them looked like the world had fallen, "I just needed to get clearance from Tsunade to leave now instead of at sunrise like she had ordered."

"Why the change in time?" Shino asked as he and Kiba held Hinata between them, "Didn't you tell us to get rest for tomorrow?"

"Change in plans, we're leaving now," Chouji bit out. Eyes widened at his stone cold tone.

"Where's I-Ino-chan?"

Shikamaru winced as Chouji placed a hand on his shoulder; "We need to go now." Shikamaru grounded out between his teeth as he pushed past the others and out of the gate. Chouji followed after him despite the odd looks that they were both getting.

"B-but Shikamaru-san, w-what about Ino-chan!"

Shikamaru paused in his steps as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He wasn't nearly as emotionally stable as everyone thought him to be. What ever had made them think that after he had gone after Asuma's murders the way he did, he didn't know. Looking up to the moon Shikamaru closed his eyes tightly as he bit down on the filter, "Ino has already left to go find Sakura."

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Did you used to always say 'indeed' Sasori, before you met me?"

"That is because you radiate your own warmth. You too are a star that lights up lives and in the night sky there are many more than just four to accompany you in your loneliness. You do not need to worry so much about weakness Sakura, I know you."

"I love you Akasuna no Sasori, with all my beating heart."

"Wasn't Sasuke-kun enough? Didn't we learn our lesson with him? He tore us apart and nearly destroyed Konoha in the process!"

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

Love the emotional turmoil...


	28. GoodBye

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 28: Good-bye

"Sasori," Sakura whispered as she held one of Sasori's hands tightly in both of hers. The moon was still shining brightly down on them as dawn quickly approached from the far east. But for now the darkness, the coolness, the stillness was all there was for the couple that stood in the middle of a giant field.

Sakura brought his hand up to her cheek and allowed for his cool fingers to brush against her warm skin. Sasori's fingers caressed her lightly as a spark of chakra was exchanged between the two.

The wind rustled the long blades of grass and whistled through leaves of the trees standing on the edges of the field. The breeze threw up a cascade of petals that had fallen long before and allowed them to dance once again in the night air before disappearing again in the tendrils of grass. The birds had long gone to sleep and would not wake for a little while longer while the insects had fallen silent due to the radiating presence of the warriors.

Green eyes shone up to brown eyes as the orbs of unbidden emotion clashed in the darkness. "Sakura…" Sasori mumbled as he pulled the girl in front of him closer. They did not lose eye contact as her palms let go of his hand in favor of resting on his chest. He didn't fully allow for the movement as he brought his other hand up to one of her and guided the fingers to his mouth. He delicately ran his lips over her knuckles as her lips quivered in the night air.

"I'm so sorry," Sakura mumbled as she finally drew her eyes away from his and rested her cheek on the smooth plane of his torso. He tightened his hold around her waist as he flickered his gaze towards the moon. Her hand softly dropped from his and grasped tightly onto his Akatsuki cloak.

Sasori took in a deep breath before turning his eyes back to the top of Sakura's head, "Some things, you can never see no matter how perceptive you believe yourself to be…"

"You probably never expected this to happen," Sakura laughed bitterly as she turned her face into his dark cloak and buried her nose into his scent. "You never expected that the little girl you had fought over a year ago would turn into the girl standing before you now."

"No. I had no doubt in my mind that you would turn into the girl you are now, I just did not expect for you to be in my arms at the end of it all," Sasori replied as he ran his fingers through her short pink locks of hair. Tilting his head down, he buried his nose into the pink strands and inhaled. He couldn't really smell her, but at the same time he could. It was the change that took place in his body every time he inhaled around her; it was the thumping of his non-existent heart. What he didn't know, his body did know. "But I also did not think that I would be able to feel again nor that I ever wanted to."

Sakura laughed, her voice muffled by the swirling red clouds before she pulled away from him once again and moved her hands to wrap around the back of his neck. Her fingers also fiddled with the ends of his hair as a comfortable silence engulfed the both of them. "I'm still so very sorry Sasori, because I know you know. If Itachi knew, then surely… surely you must too."

"Indeed," Sasori murmured.

Sakura smiled up at him, her eyes glowing in the moonlight. "Did you used to always say 'indeed' Sasori, before you met me?"

"I do not suppose I did. But it was something that happened after meeting you. You said that word the day you met me."

"Did I really?"

"Indeed."

Sakura's laugh filled the air as the wind, for just a moment, grew silent in the field, "And Itachi always told me that I sounded like you when I said that word."

"Well, no man can know all," Sasori stated as he gently guided her head back to rest on the plane of his chest. Sakura closed her eyes and fluttered her eyelids as comfort and belonging ensnared her. She wondered if she would ever be able to feel like this again.

"I'm sorry." Sasori frowned as Sakura pulled away once again just to speak to him.

"You must stop apologizing. Confrontation was imminent either way, if not because of you than because of some other quest," Sasori whispered, "And I much prefer it this way over chasing some impossible dream of the Akatsuki's."

Sakura smiled and nodded as tears began to prick at the corner of her eyes, "Sit with me Sasori, until Kisame or Deidara calls for us. After all you are positioned close by."

"Of course," Sasori said as he pulled the girl in his arms down to the ground and continued to encase her in his embrace as the tears in her eyes began to cascade swiftly down her face. "I am glad that everything had turned out as it has," Sasori murmured as he gently nuzzled her neck, "Although forever would have been even more pleasing."

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at the smirk that crossed his lips. The joyful sound mixed with her silent tears caused her to hiccup before the salty droplets disappeared from her face and Sasori smiled down at her once again, "You won't ever let that go will you?"

"I do not believe I will," Sasori murmured, "But for now it will suffice to simply have you here right beside me."

"That's what I'm supposed to say. You stole my line," Sakura pouted as she crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows at the puppet master.

Sasori merely chuckled at her reaction, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"What are you going to do once this is all over?"

"I do not know."

"You never did care about escape… that's right."

"There is only one escape for me."

"Would you be displeased if I told you that I would rather you be trapped?"

Sasori paused, "Yes and no. Life will continue on, but meaning will disappear once again. I have felt and it has affected me. Nothing can return to how it was moments before."

"That barely answered my question."

Sasori smirked, "I never intended it to do so."

Sakura continued to pout as she leaned back into his touch and gazed at the endless sky above them. "You were the light that lit up the night of my life," Sakura whispered suddenly as she traced her finger towards the moon. "You reflected all of the sunshine in the world and shone it all down on me…"

"You are being dramatic."

"Shut up and let me continue," Sakura squealed as she playfully smacked him on the arm, Sasori smirked again before leaning back on one arm and continuing to hold her with the other. He turned his head up to the sky as well, watching as Sakura continued to trace the heavens, "And once I saw the light of the moon, I couldn't help but see the stars as well. Itachi, Deidara and Kisame made my darkest nights all the better, all the more breath taking. But you Sasori, were not only the moon but you were also the North Star, you were the beacon that guided me back to where I belonged."

"Simply adding on to your explanation because you have flawed logic I see," Sasori could help but murmur, "The moon would have sufficed, I am after all cold and unfeeling, not radiating any warmth of my own."

Sakura smacked him on the arm again before giggling and shifting so that she would be held deeper into his embrace, "And then when I was once again faced with the direct rays of the sun, it felt as though they were too much, too soon..."

"But once in a while you still miss the warmth," Sasori murmured quietly as the wind whistled and tousled her hair so that it brushed gently against his nose.

Sakura turned to face him hastily, "Sasori…"

"I see everything Sakura, you should know that by now."

Sakura bit her lip, "And as much as I want to leave that warmth behind…"

"You cannot…"

"I can't. I can't kill them. I can't kill the sun, not Naruto."

"That is because you radiate your own warmth. You too are a star that lights up lives and in the night sky there are many more than just four to accompany you in your loneliness. You do not need to worry so much about weakness Sakura, I know you."

Sakura relaxed in Sasori's light touches that danced across her skin as she hugged him tightly around the waist. "Sasori… I didn't think that you would ever play along with my metaphor."

"Ridiculous things sometimes pass from you to me. Sakura, although I do wish that I was the only light that you have ever needed, but that is asking for too much, is it not?"

"Sasori…"

"Ah?"

"I…"

"Oi bitch, come in! God damn it, what a stupid piece of fucking crap. Just because this is the last time we are using this things doesn't mean you should shit this much on the quality. Bitch answer me damn it!"

Sakura twitched as she pulled away from Sasori and tugged at her screeching and static filled radio, "What the hell do you want you fucking fish?" Sakura scowled as she threw her gaze back and forth between Sasori's eyes and the ground. Sasori merely chuckled at her reddened cheeks and her tone of utter frustration.

"First one of your little Konoha lackeys is here."

"Only one?" Sakura asked surprised.

"Yah, no one else seems to be with her or following her."

"What does she look like?" Sakura asked hastily as she dug her fingers into the ground. Sasori lifted her hands away from the dirt and brushed away the soil gently.

"Some blonde girl with long hair, lots of purple on her figure…"

Sakura froze, "That bloody Pig!"

"Uh… do you call everyone by some sort of animal?"

"No, no I mean she's Yamanaka Ino…"

"Want me to stop her then?" Kisame cackled from the other end of the line, his voice mixing in with the buzzing static, "We've been out here in the dark for hours and I want to shed some blood. I mean you and Sasori might be having your own little fun but…" More cackling sounded from the other side of the static.

Sakura scrunched her nose as she shook her head furiously. Sasori pointed at her radio with an amused expression as she laughed nervously with shaking hands and pressed on the button, "No, let her get through to me. Did you hear that as well Deidara?"

"Yeah, all clear as a foggy day," Deidara mumbled obviously not enjoying the overly loud static on his end.

"Thank you," Sakura mumbled as she began to stand up. Sasori followed her movements all the while not releasing his hold on her, "If she's here the others won't be that far behind. Watch yourself Kisame."

"Sure thing bitch. I'll see yah."

"Bye Kisame."

A pause, "Bye… Sakura."

Sakura scowled as she released the button on her radio and scrunched her nose again before she turned back towards Sasori. "What was I saying before the loud and stupid interruption?"

"I do not know, you were only just beginning," Sasori replied with a wide smirk gracing his lips.

Sakura's eyes narrowed, "You know don't you."

"Of course I do, but even so I wish for you to say the words of your own accord without my assumption hindering the meaning."

"You barely ever have to assume Sasori, especially when it comes to me," Sakura scowled.

"Ah, and how the mood has been broken." Sakura laughed as Sasori chuckled once again. He brought his other hand up to lift her chin and stare directly into her emerald green eyes, "But honestly, I am sure you remember what you were about to say."

Sakura nodded with a bounce of her hair. The wind whistled loudly in the field for the last time in the night, swaying all of the blades of grass and allowing the petals to dance once again. Orange suddenly flooded into the sky above them and mixed with tendrils of yellow and red. The colors casted a pink glow down on the couple as Sakura leaned up to the man in front of her and spoke confidently yet softly, "I love you Akasuna no Sasori, with all my beating heart."

Sasori allowed himself to truly smile down at the girl in front of him and flickered his eyes towards the tree line. Sakura shook her head at him while fluttering her eyelids as she brought her hands up to his face; he allowed his gaze and whole entire being to once again be encompassed by her. "I find saying that 'I love you too' to be much too mundane for a once unfeeling puppet. But I will say it anyways for lack of better words to express how I feel for you. I love you as well Haruno Sakura."

Tears once again gathered at the corner of Sakura's eyes as she said and heard the words for the first and last time in her life for and from the man she loved. She leaned up the last span of distance between them and Sasori gracefully connected their lips in a searing, passionate but simple kiss. Sakura held onto the man for dear life as he tightened his hold on her and only when she had run out of air did they part. "Y-you should go now Sasori…" The tears had once again broken the dam as she wiped them away with the sleeve of her shirt.

"Indeed…" Sasori murmured as he touched her pink locks gently, "Good-bye Sakura."

And as she watched the man she loved let go of her, brush his fingers out of her hair, turn away, all the while still looking back at her and quickly disappearing into the distance, she couldn't help but whisper the final words as well, "Good-bye Sasori…"

The wind howled as the puppet master disappeared from sight and into the trees across the field. Sakura didn't even move when she heard the rustling of leaves and parting grass. She didn't move when she heard a young woman gasp for air behind her. She didn't move as the last tears she would ever cry for love dried up on her face.

"S-Sakura…"

"Ino…" Sakura turned on her heel and met with blazing, tear ridden blue eyes, "It has been a long time."

"Y-you…" Ino muttered bitterly as tears cascaded down her face, "You FOOL!"

"Whatever ever do you mean Ino?"

"Leaving us because of something that!"

Sakura's eyes narrowed as her stance tensed at Ino's accusatory pointing finger that followed the path of the puppet master, "Because of what, Ino?"

"I thought you were above it all by now Sakura. I thought that we were both above it by now!" Ino shrieked as her fists clenched. Ino's face was screwed up in pain and longing as her eyes tightly shut with the clutching and squeezing feelings pressing down on her rapidly beating heart. Sakura continued to gaze at the girl in front of her silently as Ino continued her accusation, "Staying in the Akatsuki for a _boy_ Sakura…"

Sakura's nostrils flared, "What?"

"Wasn't Sasuke-kun enough? Didn't we learn our lesson with him? He tore us apart and nearly destroyed Konoha in the process!"

"Ino, be silent!" Ino shivered as she closed her lips, she had seen Sakura mad before, she had seen Sakura furious, insane, at her worst and utterly pissed off, but never had she seen Sakura so absolutely livid. "You think that I joined the Akatsuki because of a _boy_?"

"What other reason would you have for joining the organization that killed Asuma-sensei?" Ino shrieked, "Why ever would you…"

"What about the fact that I didn't 'join', but that I was recruited?" She had also joined the team before the Akatsuki had killed Asuma-sensei; she had also joined the team that would not be considered part of the Akatsuki after this day was done.

"Impossible."

"Of course Ino," Sakura laughed, tilting her head back as she clutched at her forehead with her thumb and forefinger, "I should have known. You're just like the rest of them. You never really cared, you never really understood, you will never understand!" Sakura bellowed as she took a step towards the Yamanaka. Sakura had had the thoughts a million times before, that Deidara and Ino were alike. Sure, they had similar physical features, but no… they were nothing alike. Sakura recalled her good-bye with her real best friend and resisted the urge to cry again.

Ino, despite herself, took a step backwards only managing to elicit a darker laugh from Sakura. Ino was feeling the change in her childhood friend; she could feel the darkness permuting the air, resonating through her soul. She didn't know why the feeling was so familiar. "Sakura… you can't possibly… either way… the Akatsuki are evil!"

"Evil? The Akatsuki is evil? Then what is evil, Ino-chan?"

"They killed Asuma-sensei, they killed Lee…"

"I killed Lee."

"No you didn't!" Ino cried in denial, "You couldn't have killed Lee, they did something to you Sakura, they've totally made you lose it. But we can help you Sakura; we can help you! All you have to do is come back to us!"

"You didn't answer my question Ino? What is evil?"

Ino's lips quivered as Sakura's green eyes darkened a shade as she took another step forward. Ino once again backed up, realizing that she couldn't discern Sakura's movement at all despite the long grass surrounding them. The blonde racked her brains desperately knowing that there was a person… "A-Asahashi Yukari-sama…"

Sakura's eyebrow rose to her hairline as a smirk plastered itself across her face, "What about that man?"

"He was good man," Ino murmured. Sakura resisted the urge to scoff, "He supplied money to Konoha and funded the Fire Country's defenses. He even began funding the hospital and all of our operations…" Ino remembered now, the feeling that she was feeling now was that exact feeling that she had had all those months ago when she had been sent on that mission to retrieve his body. It was the bloody crime scene that had Shikamaru questioning her mental health, the scene that had preceded her outburst at Naruto.

"I remember Asahashi Yukari," Sakura grinned as she tilted her head and tapped her lip, "Oh I remember him very well. He used to be the man who roamed around the tower, talking to Shishou, flaunting his money in our faces and declaring how he was going to help us…"

"Well the Akatsuki killed him Sakura! I was the one who found his body after the massacre of his city. There was no one left within the city limits and all of the money had been taken! Buildings had been burnt down casting this unnatural smog into the air. Asahashi Yukari-sama was maimed and killed in his office with no one to help him. There was blood absolutely everywhere, it was brutal, it was unsightly and it was in no way human. The Akatsuki are evil people that killed this great man Sakura…"

"I killed him."

"What?" Ino's blood ran cold.

"I was the one who made Asahashi Yukari bleed," Sakura smiled as she locked her eyes with Ino's stark blue ones, "I was the one that kept him conscious and in pain as the blood drained from his body. It was _my_ jutsu that ended his life."

"No…"

"So what now Ino? You're either going to now have to accept that I'm evil all by my lonesome, so twisted that I would do that to a man without any purpose, or that I am part of the Akatsuki and that they gave me a definitive reason to kill the man."

"You couldn't have. No I don't believe you!"

Sakura grinned darkly, "Do you want a demonstration Ino? I can give you a very personal one," Sakura murmured as she raised her hands and began to perform the seals.

"No!" Ino cried as she backed away several more steps upon seeing three of the seals, "No…" Ino shook as she pulled out a kunai from her pouch and held it out in front of her.

"Then you do believe me…" Sakura whispered as Ino choked on her sobs and hugged herself tightly with one arm, "I'm not the same Haruno Sakura that left Konoha one year ago."

"Sakura…"

"No. I'm a better Haruno Sakura now. I'm not the girl who was so worthless that she could have been thrown behind like a piece of trash, I'm not the weakling who could do nothing for her teammates in a time of need, no. I'm definitely a better Sakura now."

"I don't believe that!" Ino chucked the kunai at Sakura and Sakura deflected the weapon with a kunai of her own. Ino jumped back slightly as she pulled out several more kunai and hurled them at Sakura. This time it didn't even look like the pink haired girl had even moved as the kunai buried into the ground. Ino pulled out one more kunai as she saw Sakura smile.

"Believe what you want to believe Ino-pig. I don't care about you anymore. After all we have already established that you are one of them now… and I could care less about them."

Ino shook as her stomach contracted him pain. Tears continued to trace down her beautiful face as she looked into the cold green eyes of her best friend. "Sakura I… I truly believed that you were still in there. That killing Lee had been an accident…"

"It was."

"What?" Ino asked as she looked up in shock. That was the one answer that she had not been expecting, especially after all that they had just been through. She watched as emotions flittered through Sakura's eyes before the green orbs turned dark once again.

"I had no reason to kill Lee as I had reason to kill Asahashi Yukari or my old genin team and yet I did kill him… and not Sasuke, Naruto or Kakashi-sensei. It was an accident, bloody rivers would have come to be otherwise…"

Ino's mind blazed back to life as she stared at the girl in front of her. Ino's blue eyes cleared for just a moment as she realized that her old Sakura was still there. And then suddenly static filled the air. "Oi bitch! I'm about to have some fun, this useless thing is going bye, bye."

Sakura grinned and gently pressed the button on her neck, "How many people are there?"

"Less than ten after I get my fight."

"Have fun then Kisame."

"Oh I will."

"S-Sakura… I don't understand…"

"I don't expect you to Ino-Pig."

"Sakura…" Ino whispered and reeled back in shock when she saw that Sakura was no longer standing in front of her. Pink strands of hair tickled her face and green orbs were suddenly the only things she could see, "Thank you Ino… for everything…" Sakura whispered before she let the seals fly. Ino launched her arm out to try to deflect what she thought would be a physical blow. Sakura grabbed her wrist and wrenched it back. Ino screamed. The seals were completed so quickly that Ino realized she couldn't see any of them.

Ino's mouth opened as though she had wanted words to come out before her body loosened and collapsed in Sakura arms.

"Hey Sasori no danna, four of them are heading your way," Deidara stated fuzzily through the radio as a loud boom sounded in the distance. Sakura assumed that the man had then discarded his contraption as well. They had already all said their good-byes.

Sakura grunted at the sudden additional weight in her arms before throwing her oldest friend over her shoulder like a sac of potatoes. She walked to the other side of the large field, a place she knew that no one was going to touch during the battle and set the girl down, "I can't say sweet dreams Ino, because I'm not kind enough to send you into that world after everything that has been said and done, but at least you will still be alive at the end of the day," Sakura muttered as she stood back up.

A black blur raced past her and Sakura let out a long sigh as her hair settled back in place. Sakura reached up to her neck, "Itachi…"

"Thank you Sakura…"

"I hope… that your life was good Itachi."

"It… was only as I made it to be."

"Good-bye, Uchiha Itachi."

"Good-bye, Haruno Sakura."

Sakura blinked steadily as she walked back to where she had started and only looked up when she heard the cry that had changed her life one year ago and would change her life once again.

"Sakura-chan!"

_Good-Bye_

"Move faster!" Shikamaru shouted as the Konoha retrieval team veered off the main road and dove into the forest. The eleven bodies behind him followed his lead without hesitation as the undergrowth scratched at their faces and hindered their movements only ever so slightly. "How far is the river Kakashi?" The sun rose behind them and casted light and shadows into their path. Shikamaru hoped that he wasn't too late to save Ino like he had been for Asuma-sensei.

"At the rate that we're moving we should be there in less than ten minutes," Kakashi replied. Some of the group behind them was already beginning to slow down from the exertion that the team leader was putting on them but they went on without any complaints.

"Shikamaru, you're being reckless, we're going to be too tired for a battle if we continue on like this," Shino stated as he noticed the slightly labored breaths of his two teammates. Even the slightest disadvantage would cost them a life and Shino wasn't the type to lose one of his precious friends just because of the recklessness of others.

Shikamaru scoffed in distaste as they only slowed down ever so slightly, "We can't waste time. What if Ino never makes it to Sakura? What if Sakura kills her like she killed Lee."

The silence was choking. The speed of the team picked back up again.

Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi tensed at the statement, Naruto was the only one who could work up a defense after several seconds, "Sakura-chan will never be able to kill us; she's our Sakura-chan." A clamor ensued after Naruto's statement as the other shinobi started muttering.

"You're being self centered," Neji snarled, "It's only your three that she won't kill." Gai-sensei placed a hand on Neji's shoulder and nodded at him to calm down. Neji bit his lip and snarled, but said no more.

"She let us live when she had every chance to destroy us," Sasuke stated brusquely to once again silence the noise. Confirming it was better than denying it.

He knew that he wouldn't be facing her again this time, he knew because he could sense that Itachi was near and Itachi was more important to him at the moment than the pink haired girl who had loved him in their youth. After all, she still had Naruto and Kakashi fighting for her, she would be all right without him. He dearly hoped that was the case at least.

"I still can't believe that Sakura killed any one at all," Genma murmured as he bounded from tree to tree beside Kakashi. The copy nin merely nodded his head in response and Genma let out a sigh of pity. His brown eyes turned towards his friend and he shook his head, "It's not your fault Kakashi."

"But it is."

"You could have done nothing about it and don't you dare fight me on this. I've learned how to catfight like the best of them," Genma snickered trying to lighten up the mood that had fallen on his friend.

Kakashi gave him his signature eye crinkle before swinging on another branch to land on the ground. "Everyone stop!" Kakashi shouted as he held out his arm in order to stop the onslaught of shinobi that followed after him. Shikamaru stood beside him on one side and narrowed his eyes; Genma stood behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder in reassurance.

Kiba landed right beside the two jonins and lifted his nose up to the sky, "Do you smell that too Akamaru?" Kiba asked quietly as the large, white dog beside him growled in an affirmation. "I remember this smell, it was from the battle field where we encountered Sakura's scent."

"Then this really is Hoshigaki Kisame," Kakashi snarled as a wall of water suddenly grew over them and came crashing down.

"Move!" Shikamaru shouted as the eleven shinobi and one dog back pedaled back into the trees. "Damn it! They positioned him near the river. Hoshigaki Kisame has an affinity for water element jutsu!" Shikamaru shouted out coarsely as he scanned the group. Every single one of them had been able to avoid the attack with little damage.

"The copy nin once again," Kisame grinned as he appeared on the far outskirts of the damage that he had caused. The water resting on the soil began to flow back into the large lake and river that was sitting behind him. "I've been waiting for this particular rematch Hatake Kakashi."

Kakashi's eye narrowed as he was about to reply but Neji and Gai jumped in front of him and spoke before he could, "Well too bad, your opponents are going to be us Hoshigaki Kisame," Neji snarled, "I'm going to kill you for being a part of the death of Rock Lee and injuring Tenten, since I can't get my hands on the murderer herself."

"Hoshigaki Kisame, I, Maito Gai, will be the end of you!"

Kisame stared at them before grinning, "Ah, the little boy that the bitch killed. You two must be the ones I was fighting last time," Kisame grinned, "Are you sure you want to face me again?" He was pleased, he could fight them again, though he would have preferred the copy nin, but he already knew that Sakura's sensei would try to get as close to her as he could.

"For destroying and taking youthful young lives, you will pay the ultimate price," Gai stated as he shifted his stance, "Kakashi, this is the time for you to continue on and find your youthful, female teammate. Go!"

"Looks like we won't be getting our rematch Kisame," Kakashi stated as he waved at the rest to follow; he blinked when Genma shook his head.

"Go on ahead of me. I'll stay here and help Neji and Gai. Both of them are close ranged fighters and I'm long range, I'll be a better help here than I might be somewhere else," Genma replied as he bit on his senbon, grinding his teeth on the metal; he smiled ruefully at his friend, "Get Sakura back and remember what Shizune gave you. And if this doesn't end well…"

"It will end well."

"But if it…"

"I will go before you."

"You'll never die Hatake."

Kakashi nodded as Shikamaru took off with the rest of the group, "Thank you friend."

Genma burst out into a chuckle from the title he had been given before waving for the copy nin to go on. Turning back to the enemy he approached Neji and Gai, "So, Hoshigaki Kisame eh? I don't like the fact that you've corrupted my precious student." The senbon between his lips shot at the sword wielder and Kisame shifted slightly to the side.

Kisame grinned, "So you're the reason why she was relatively fast."

Genma grinned, "You're dead."

Kakashi easily caught up with the other eight as they dove through the trees and away from the river where rumbling and explosions could already be heard. "Oi, Shikamaru where are we going?" Naruto shouted, "You don't know where Sakura-chan is going to be!"

"Tch, troublesome," Shikamaru scowled, "Kiba, can you lock onto her scent?"

"No, Akamaru's and my nose can't smell anything but smoke and clay at the moment."

"S-smoke and c-clay?" Hinata murmured, "Isn't that the t-trademark of…" She was interrupted as a loud explosion came from her left. Hinata flipped in the air and landed on her two feet with both of her teammates by her side within moments.

"Yeah, you shouldn't be worrying about getting to Sakura-chan right now," Deidara teased as he called down from his large soaring bird, "You should be worrying more about me, yeah." The wind blew through his hair as he smelled freedom.

"Don't you dare call her Sakura-chan!" Naruto growled as his nails dug into his flesh. Deidara merely laughed as his bird circled the group.

"Damn it," Chouji growled, "Shikamaru, go on ahead to find Ino, I'll stay behind and knock that dumb grin of his face!"

"You can't be the only one to stay Chouji…"

"We'll stay with him, you four continue on to find Sakura and Ino," Shino stated as he lowered his glasses ever so slightly allowing them to flash in the still rising sun. Hinata and Kiba nodded beside the bug user as Chouji turned back to his teammate. "If anyone can do it, you four can."

Taking a hand to Shikamaru's shoulder Chouji gave him a nod, "Be careful Shikamaru and find Ino without hurting yourself, okay? We can't afford to lose the genius of the generation."

Shikamaru nodded as one tear ran from his eye, "Don't you get hurt either Chouji." Chouji nodded with a grin on his face as another explosion sounded behind him.

"Now get going!" and with a push Chouji turned back behind him and dived into the fray.

Shikamaru nodded as he jumped off with the remnants of Team 7. Kakashi gave him a reassuring nod as the one tear dropped from his chin. Chouji large size could now be seen above the tree line as he grew to pat down the explosive's user. Deidara cackled in delight as his creations appeared one by one, disappearing the next moment in the beauty of his art.

Naruto and Sasuke were in front of Shikamaru and Kakashi yelling at each other over the sound of the explosions about Sakura and Itachi's locations when two puppets tore through the undergrowth and pinned the two young shinobi to the ground. "Damn it," Kakashi growled as he pulled out a kunai and charged it with his lightening chakra. Throwing it into the distance he temporarily severed the chakra strings that connected to the puppets to allow the two boys to escape. "We have less people than we originally planned Shikamaru," Kakashi shouted as he jumped back before another puppet could aim its sword at him.

Shikamaru scrunched up his face as he peaked over at Naruto and Sasuke who were prepared for another attack. "Puppets equal…"

"Me." The four men turned towards the sound and spotted the puppet master standing high in the trees. His brown eyes gleamed in the sunlight as a smirk graced his lips. "I finally get to meet Sakura's old foolish teammates and you…" Sasori muttered as he turned his eyes to Shikamaru, "… are the man who saw Sakura at the festival. She had told me that you are the genius of the lot, that you would be the strategist of the onslaught… I can already see that you are nothing compared to Itachi or I."

Shikamaru gritted his teeth as Sasori passed his gaze over the Nara as though he was nothing.

"Where's Sakura-chan you bastard!" Naruto bellowed as he bounded into the tree and began to climb the trunk. Sasori flicked his fingers and sent Naruto down to the ground once again with a volley of senbon imbedded into his thick orange jacket.

"Take that off you dobe before the tips touch your skin!" Sasuke shouted as Naruto hastily threw off the old garment with a curse. Sasuke took his place beside his best friend as the two nodded at each other and casted their gazes towards their former sensei. Kakashi let out a sigh of relief as he patted one of the pockets on his vest, something not quite wasted.

"Shikamaru," Kakashi murmured quietly, "I know that you want to be the one who finds Ino, but you and I know that I won't be able to…"

"I know…" Shikamaru scowled, "I know damn it! Naruto go on ahead and find Ino and Sakura. You're the only one that can bring Ino back alive, so you better do it Naruto! I won't forgive you if you trade up Ino's life for your own selfishness!" Shikamaru shouted as his fist clenched. Kakashi nodded at him gratefully as Shikamaru's teeth grinded together again. He wanted to smell the billowing smoke of his old sensei again; he wasn't the peace and serenity that had only existed way back then.

Naruto looked up at Shikamaru with blazing blue eyes before nodding in reply, "I'll bring Ino back alive, it's a promise! Come on teme!"

"You don't need to tell me twice," Sasuke muttered as he bounded away with the kyuubi. Sasori watched them leave with calculating eyes before turning back to the two men in front of him. Two boys against Sakura and Itachi was nothing and the number hadn't mattered since the very beginning. It would all come to the same result for the two members anyways. But for once in his life, Sasori had no idea what to predict for his own future. It had clouded up a little over a year ago when he had first met the pink-haired kunoichi. Before it had been about being eternal, which in every way he was… but she would not be with him forever and just like how she could never let go of the blazing warmth of the sun after she had felt it, he could not let go of her.

Kakashi's eyes widened, "He didn't try to stop them…"

Shikamaru crinkled his nose in distaste and scoffed, "I know…"

"I am honored to be facing the two people that Sakura had such high praise for," Sasori stated as he flicked his fingers. Two puppets rose out of the shadows and lingered in front of the two brilliant shinobi, "Let's see if that praise was garnered."

Kakashi tensed as the shadows around him increased exponentially. He looked up to the puppet master, whose grin was now down right sinister. Sasori's cloak was slightly parted… enough for a hundred chakra strings to be seen flowing down into the trees. "Shikamaru…"

"We're getting out of this alive."

Kakashi grinned, "I don't have the ability to die."

"Teme I know that you want to find Itachi, but Sakura-chan…"

"Naruto…" Sasuke began, "If there is anyone who can bring Sakura back to us, it's you. I don't think there will be any problem with Ino. She might have killed Lee, but that had never been her intention or purpose. That antidote that she gave to Tenten says everything that we need to know. She truly only wants us."

"But teme…"

Both of them stopped abruptly and slid across the forest floor as Sasuke took both of Naruto's shoulders into his own hands, "Someone is going to have to face Itachi either way and you and I both know that it will be me. You and I also know that despite Sakura's old feelings for me, you're the only one with even the remotest of a chance in getting her back, so believe dobe, Shikamaru has, Kakashi has and so have all of the others."

"Thank you… teme," Naruto grinned as he nodded.

Sasuke backed away from his friend and activated his sharingan. Red bled into onyx as he scanned through the tree. "Sakura's just up ahead in the clearing, I can feel her flaring chakra signature. Ino is still with her but it doesn't seem at though she's conscious. Itachi is only a little more away after her."

"Y-yeah!"

Sasuke smirked and held out his fist. "Good luck dobe, get her back."

"Good luck teme," Naruto repeated as he bumped his own fist with that of his best friend's. Sasuke nodded one last time before running off into the nearby field. Naruto could glimpse Sasuke running past a figure in the distance and then he watched as the figure turned to approach him.

Naruto walked forward, out into the sunny field and swallowed hard trying to get rid of the lump in his throat. Tears sparkled in his eyes as he saw the bright pink strands of his last teammate glowing in the sun lit sky.

"Sakura-chan!"

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Sakura-chan, I'm here to bring you back home."

"Wouldn't you rather I hate you?"

"Wh-, if… you become the Hokage Naruto… if again comes the time when you have to debate if you truly will do anything for your village, remember me… okay?"

"Impossible… the rasengan?"

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

This chapter has a lot less physical cut offs than there really are in the second part... but putting those between would have made it too choppy and it was more dramatic the way it was. So if you found it a little confusing, that was a tiny bit intended...

I will admit, that this was supposed to be the second last chapter... but I think I will be cutting the next one in half due to its massive and ridiculous length and content and then there will also be an epilogue. Originally I was going to put the epilogue up as a vote... but I think I have to do the epilogue now that the story has turned out as it has.

I hope you guys enjoy!


	29. Home

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 29: Home

'_Funny,' Sakura thought, 'you think about the people you hate just as much as you think about the people you love.' _

Sakura fluttered her eyelids open as though she had just woken out of dream, as though the word that had echoed across the field was still echoing through her head. The sun's rays filtered in all around her and she inhaled the scent of the quickly fading dawn, of the wind that had whistled in her ears and of the sandalwood that still minutely lingered on her cloak. The grass around her swayed gently, mimicking the passage of time as the leaves in the distance rustled in suspense. She could hear it in the distance, the now calming sound of battle. She could hear the rushing of the waves as they pounded down on the earth and she wondered if Kisame was finally having his fun.

Sakura inhaled again and frowned as she noticed, as she perceived his scent, as she found that she had never forgotten exactly what her teammate smelt like. How trivial… it broke the serenity that had filled her soul.

_"I wanted him to hate me forever because that would mean that he would forever love my memory."_

"Naruto…" The words left her lips before she could even give an ounce of resistance. She frowned slightly at the fact that her voice was soft, almost full of wanting. The sun warmed her cheek and she wished ever so much that she didn't have to face Naruto in the brilliance of what he represented. She was losing her purpose. But what was her purpose now. Her eyes strayed to the sky as the splashing colors of dawn faded out to the crisp clear blue that it shouldn't have been. She didn't have to look at him and that blue already reminded her of his eyes.

"Sakura-chan…" This time his words were not yelled and desperate, but softly spoken with an edge of pleading tainting the caress of sound. She hated it because she knew that he had only responded in kind to her own broken and messed up plea. She was weak. Haruno Sakura would always be weak.

Sakura looked down from the sky and she let her emotions wash off of her face. Naruto wasn't one to pick up on the subtleties. It was a good thing Kakashi-sensei hadn't been able to make it to their playing field.

"I should have known that you would have been the one to come up against me." Sakura bared her teeth in a smirk; of course she had known whom they would choose to fight her, whether it be chosen explicitly or implicitly. She hadn't expected, of course, for him to come alone… but then again she had hoped it was so. Naruto was always the one to take the emotionally challenging fights; most of the time he was the only one who could handle them. She wondered if he would be able to handle it this time as well. She was only barely scraping by.

"Sakura-chan, I'm here to bring you back home."

_Home_

Somewhere on the battlefields a shark was stalking his prey, meandering gracefully through the waters and using the fluid to his utter advantage. It was his element, and it did not matter weather the water was calm or if it flowed around him, all water was his to wield. Quicker and faster than his opponents, the shark would strike with deadly accuracy and even deadlier intent. This shark did not just rely on its teeth, but with a sweeping touch of his weapon men fell and rarely recovered, no longer as resilient as before. Blood would be split on the plains, the smell only enticing the shark to hunt even more.

Genma cursed as he looked into the coal eyes of the demon that was before him. Kisame was a close range fighter; Genma was a long ranged. If the man before them had been any other opponent then this fight would have ended quickly, but no, it was not the case. Never did the easy times come when you needed them most. The man had an almost impenetrable barrier of water surrounded him. Genma's own weapons were being used against him and it was frustrating beyond all belief. He found himself wondering if he would be able to get home to his wife… alive.

Neji was emotionally disturbed. He couldn't look at Kisame without seeing Sakura and then Lee and then his broken Tenten. He knew that this wasn't the mindset that was proper for fighting such a tragic foe. He knew that if he didn't up his game, he would end up just like his friend. He didn't even want to think about how Tenten would be like if he didn't return. But it was impossible; Neji just couldn't get close to the man. Neji was a close ranged fighter and Gai opened up all the only opportunities that he could take. Never before in his life had Neji appreciated just how strong and intelligent his sensei was. It didn't show often, but just the fact that Gai-sensei was on par with the copy nin should have told him years ago. The man was a tiger and Neji cursed at the fact that he could only hopelessly follow along. Neji knew though, that one strike of his technique could turn this whole entire battle around. Hoshigaki Kisame was too reliant on his massive amounts chakra.

Gai barely had to think. All he had to do was remember. The man was all about the love that he had ever felt and that pool of memories was where he drew his strength. As long as he had his memories, he had his eternal youth. Gai remembered all of those he had lost and most recently the boy who had turned into a man despite the words of others. Tears dapples at the corners of his eyes, but the man did not cry. One chakra gate after another opened within his system. Directly or indirectly he would rid the world of those that would destroy, so brutally, a strong and capable man such as Lee. It wasn't about revenge, but sometimes Gai wished that it were. "Hoshigaki Kisame, you… will never do that to a youthful child ever again!"

Kisame grinned, but didn't say anymore. He was enjoying his fun while it lasted. The Samehada swung through the air as two men came charging at him and small senbon went flying. The battlefield, where his name was known, was and would always be… his home.

_Home_

Somewhere on the battlefields laughter would ring through the air as fireworks burst in a grandeur show of light and smoke. They were falling, instead of soaring, from the sky down to the ground to impact the spectators more so than any other display ever seen. The master grinned, it was a big impact indeed and he was proud of his work. He was the one that was soaring; he was the one that was free in the sky. The laughter would soon coil upon itself and more fireworks would be launched, and as the number of spectators decreased due to exhaustion or strain in light of the masterpiece, the fireworks only got more magnificent more deadly. Smiles would litter the explosive master, much more than just the one of any ordinary artist.

Chouji was exhausted. The strain of increasing his size in order to destroy the man in the air was having its effect on his body and he could feel himself dropping in weight rapidly. He didn't care if they won the fight; Chouji never really cared directly for those kind of petty things. All that matter to the man was the fact that both of his teammates would get back safely. Chouji swung his hand at the man, ignoring the burn marks that were plastered on his skin. Nothing mattered to Chouji other than the fact that Ino and Shikamaru had to come back alive, not even his own life.

Hinata's stamina had given out on her. Deidara had that kind of effect with his constant explosions and his obvious set up that he had staged in order to wear them down one by one. She was already in the back lines being protected by her two teammates, the two people who she cared about the most in the world. An explosion had shot shrapnel of wood right across her face, scratching at one of her eyes. She felt useless and blind but the veins of her byakugan were still activated and she still yelled out to the others were dense balls of chakra were building up. She was constantly giving away her position, something that Shino and Kiba were trying to stop her from doing. But Hinata wasn't useless and she hated being protected at the cost of her teammates lives, so she continued to yell and continued to run hoping that just one word out of her mouth would be able to save someone's life, even if she could no longer fight.

Shino was in constant worry, but he was smart and he rarely showed what he felt on his face. His bugs were everywhere, the were listening to Hinata, trying to interfere with all of the bombs that Deidara had implanted in the forest prior to their arrival. The strong smell of smoke didn't hinder his bugs, but he found himself distracted more often than not. He hated it, but he was smart, so he stayed calm and tried to respect the fact that Hinata was putting herself in danger while helping. She wasn't a little girl; he had to remember that, now more than ever. His bugs were getting close to Deidara and were engulfing him slowly. Shino was patient, but time right now might've not been on his side.

Kiba was fast and he was teaming up with Akamaru, the trees, Chouji, anything he could use in order to get that one blow. Kiba wasn't going for the man, but for the bird that the explosives user was riding on. Deidara would always have an advantage in an area that he had previously chosen, but bringing him to the ground would increase their chance of survival and that was all that Kiba cared about. They had to all survive because he wouldn't be able to stand life without his teammate and he couldn't even fathom dying because that would have torn those that he cared about apart. They needed to all survive.

Deidara cackled against as his bird soared and the wind flowed through his long blonde hair. Freedom was at his fingertips and he only had to give one last bang in order to escape, but he knew that he couldn't. If the fight wasn't good enough, if there was not enough chance that the Akatsuki would think he was dead, his escape would've been short lived… and then there was Sakura. What would happen if he were to suddenly leave his battle now? Their goodbye had been short and simple, in a way he was glad and in a way he regretted it. He had had fun when he had been with her and he wondered if he would ever get that sense of home ever again.

_Home_

Somewhere on the battlefield, three geniuses were weaving between the trees using every bit of their knowledge to even the slightest of advantages. Strings of an untouchable nature would push and pull the limits of tacticians; shadows would quiver in the shades of the canopies, coming to life in ways that shadows did not normally linger; earth, water and the noticeably more intense surge of lightning would rip through unnatural, preserved and powerful wood. And the lightning master would have to delve into his pockets; his friend and his friend's wife never meant so much to him as he clicked open the lid of one of five vials, stabbing it into the shadow user's twitching leg. However, soon wood would not be the most of their problems; the shadows, earth, water and lighting would have yet to meet the force of metallic sand.

Shikamaru and Kakashi were desperate as sweat dripped down their foreheads. Shikamaru wasn't incredibly strong, but his shadows were. However, the vulnerable positions that his technique put him in could not be compensated by the copy nin. Shikamaru knew that he could fight without the Shika-Ino-Chou combination of his life, but the over bearing fear of losing just one, or maybe even two of the three left him with openings that shouldn't have appeared. He was smart and level headed, but since the other night he hadn't been able to sort everything out right. Shikamaru knew that although he was paired up with one of the most brilliant men in the history of Konoha that that man was just as twisted at he was.

Kakashi wasn't distracted for the most part, but he was frustrated. He couldn't copy jutsus from their opponent; the man had none to give. The poison that was permeating the air around them was oppressive and never in his life did he appreciate the mask that he was wearing so much. Shikamaru was agitated, but that wasn't an important factor… the man they were fighting was obviously unfocused too. Kakashi didn't want to think about why Akasuna no Sasori was constantly looking in the direct of Sakura. Kakashi couldn't even think about Sakura without a cold sweat breaking out across the surface of his skin.

Sasori was sitting as the chakra strings did their work far below. His eyes tracked his opponents, but they weren't all that focused. As long as neither of the two got close to his main body, nothing would matter. It wouldn't even matter if they had unless they had managed to land the proper blow. Sasori wondered if his fake heart would stop from the electricity of the chidori and then wondered why that thought had come up at all. He looked over the canopy of leaves and believed that he could see short pink hair flying in the wind.

_Home_

Somewhere on the battlefield, two brothers were reunited under a brand new day. Both brothers were of fire-ridden eyes marred only by glimpses of a spinning black abyss, and more blood and pain on their hands and hearts than any time before. Love and hate circulated in the warming air as the last fan met the missing fan. Soon neither emotion would be distinguished from the other as the wind continued to mingle between the two tragic foes, one who knew all and one who sought to know. The fire sparked. And then burned.

Itachi coughed and back stepped.

Sasuke continued to attack.

They were each other's home and hell.

_Home_

On this battlefield, two old friends were once again standing face to face both less innocent than the time before, both less naïve and yet both more hopeful in only the passing of several days. The pink and blonde shades of their hair melded in with the rising sky. Green orbs blinked in apprehension, "Will you give me your all this time Naruto?"

"If that's what it takes to bring you home Sakura-chan."

"You're mistaken Naruto, I already am home."

"Sakura-chan…"

"I am."

Naruto's fists clenched as he willed himself not to screw his eyes shut in pain and agony as he stared at the girl he had loved with all his heart. He still loved her, he just wasn't in love with her anymore and somehow he hoped that the change had taken no part in her defection. "Damn it Sakura-chan! If it's a fight you want then it's a fight you'll get!" Naruto gathered his chakra in a rush and snapped his head up to look at his female teammate.

Sakura's lips pulled into a wide smirk as the kyuubi rushed out of the trees and towards her. Tendrils of red chakra swirled all around him and Sakura couldn't help but grin even more at the wondrous display of raw energy. "Time to see what it's like not to be the one standing beside the kyuubi," Sakura muttered as she slammed her foot into the ground.

Naruto leapt into the air and came down on her with sharpened claws. Sakura parried his blow with a simple kunai and threw him off to the side with a flick of her wrist. The joint ached from the effort but Sakura couldn't help but sigh out in utter exhilaration. He was actually taking her seriously; it was alleviating knowing that they, or at least he, finally somewhat understood. Naruto drew out two of his own kunai and tossed them at her. Dodging them cost Sakura the movement that she had needed to prevent the thousand clones from appearing. "I'll take you back Sakura-chan, even if it's by force," Naruto whispered from the back of the massive group as they began to charge at her.

That was when Sakura realized that the red chakra around Naruto was almost absolutely controlled by the boy. Naruto had managed to reign in even just a small portion of the kyuubi's power for his own and Sakura understood just how impressive her friend had become in his two years of absence with Jiraiya. 'But there's still something about the kyuubi that he can't control,' Sakura thought as she slammed her fist into the ground and proceeded to eliminate her opponents one by one. 'I just need to touch him one more time to see,' Sakura continued to think as she pulled a kunai out of her pouch.

She chucked the weapon with enough force for it to rip through at least three of his clones before slowing down too much to be of any threat. Sakura made her way towards the trees and with her incredible, enhanced strength she ripped one of the tree out of the ground by its trunk. Using the tree at a weapon she swiped at the many nuisances that were still trying to tire her out. Nothing would be as big of a nuisance as Deidara and his stupid explosives.

Naruto shuddered as his clones popped out of existence one by bloody one. He could feel how every single one of them had 'died' and just knowing that Sakura didn't hesitate in putting a hole in his chest, or lopping of his head was making him convulse more than he had ever intended. Had Sakura learned how to detect chakra enough to be able to tell the real one from all of the fakes? No, that prospect was impossible and that thought made Naruto want to cry in despair. For the first time in facing Sakura, Naruto felt true fear and dread drain through his blood; she really wasn't the same Sakura who had left them a year ago.

It took her less than five minutes to rid of his thousand clones. Naruto had felt and seen enough of his pink-haired friend to know that she no longer fought like a Konoha nin, she fought like a powerful, blood seeking S-class missing nin. "So Naruto? Is that all you have for me? I'm not even close to being drained of my chakra," Sakura taunted the smirk still pulling at her lips as she dropped the damaged and singed tree onto the ground with a loud rumble.

Naruto hated the expression. A snarl came out of his lips, "I'll kill them all, every single last one of them for doing this to you."

"You're going to have to kill me first," Sakura stated as her hands flashed through a series of seals. Naruto couldn't see them, but that didn't matter, he doubted that he would have recognized the technique. That was more of Kakashi-sensei's style in retaliation. Naruto just went with the flow.

And that was exactly what Naruto did when walls of earth came up around him and began to collapse upon his trapped form. "Shit!" Naruto bellowed as he used a burst of the kyuubi's chakra to leap through the rubble as it crumbled down on him. By the time he was on top of the pile, Sakura had fully disappeared from view below. "Double shit," Naruto scowled as he looked around the clearing. Off in the distance he saw half, globes of flashing lights. "Deidara… I hope the others are okay."

"You should be worrying more about yourself Naruto," Sakura sighed as she stood behind him, her back turned to his back. Naruto stiffened; he hadn't sensed her standing there at all. "I think Itachi just made a lucky guess that time back then," Sakura muttered, "I was an earth type in the end."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Naruto asked as he shifted his eyes across the horizon again. A gust of wind from the high altitude pushed his blonde hair into his bright blue eyes.

Sakura shrugged, "Nothing I guess. Just an old memory in light of what will be happening today."

"What will be happening today?" Naruto asked.

"I will be the one to leave you behind," Sakura stated softly, only emphasizing the 'you' as she turned and took a swipe at his neck. Her fingers grazed his shoulder and he had managed to dodge her attack, but that one touch was all that she had needed. "Take me seriously Naruto. I know the tajuu kage bunshin is pretty up there on the list in tactics, but that was the first jutsu you ever learned. I must be more worthy to you than that."

Naruto had leapt back down to the ground to escape her chakra scalpel and had turned to parry Sakura's attack to his collarbone as she ran at him with chakra-laden fists. Naruto winced from the cut on his shoulder as it healed quickly and tossed his kunai at her moving form. "I am taking you seriously, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura jumped and soared through the air coming down at the ground with her fist. Her eyes snapped up and locked onto his blue-eyed ones as he leapt up above the carnage as it occurred. Landing on the ground once again Naruto only managed to stop a blow to the gut with his hand. Naruto look in a deep breath as some of the bones in his hand shattered from the impact of her fist and jumped backwards just as Sakura receded as well. Sakura watched as his inert red chakra raced down to his hand and began to heal the physical damage that she had caused, "Interesting," Sakura mumbled as her eyebrow raised, "What a contradictory energy."

Naruto stood up straight as he regarded the girl in the dirt covered Akatsuki cloak in front of him. He saw something glimmer in her eyes and sucked in a deep breath of air as he recognized the twinkle, it was the same one she would have gotten three years ago in concern for her teammates. He couldn't but let the hope suddenly bloom in his heart, "Sakura-chan…"

"Hm, Naruto?" Sakura asked as she rubbed her knuckles out of habit. They didn't hurt at all, the gloves that Sasori had given her prevented that from happening, but it was a habit that she had picked up during contemplation in the light of battle. It gave off an air that she was preparing physically rather than mentally in her strategy. It was a habit that Itachi, Deidara, Kisame and Sasori would have picked up on immediately. Obviously, Naruto didn't have a clue.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Sakura asked as she looked up at Naruto with a grin on her face, she could not believe what she was hearing.

"We're all so sorry Sakura-chan. I know what its like… to be left behind and abandoned by the people that you love. I was a child who was hated by my own village, who was shunned for something that I couldn't have prevented. I know what its like when people think that your nothing, when you're dead last. I know what its like to have people leave you behind, abandon you…"

"You have no idea Naruto," Sakura snickered before bursting out in a laugh, "You have no idea at all. You didn't love us before you met us, sure you wanted to be a part of us, you wanted to be accepted by us but you didn't start loving us until we were actually friends." She hated how much feeling she was giving out to him, hated the fact that she couldn't keep it all inside when it came to the kyuubi. Hated the fact that despite him not having any idea about her, that she couldn't help but understand him. Maybe she hadn't habituated to Naruto's speeches after all.

"That isn't true Sakura-chan, I loved you."

"Just as how I loved Sasuke? That doesn't convince me at all Naruto," Sakura smirked as she shifted her stance ever so slightly, "You know nothing." Her knees were slightly bent in a movable crouch, one hand was held in front of her defensively, and the other one was placed behind her palm up, hidden from Naruto's view.

She would tell herself later that those were the words that made her spur on her plan and nothing else. She hadn't planned a head of time for it to come to this, she would convince herself of this. But in the end, she needed to just acknowledge her weakness. After all the rest of her Akatsuki group had.

To any normal observer, the stance Sakura took would have been taken for one of battle and immediate retaliation, but Sakura manipulated this thought to her advantage. She began to concentrate, 'now is the time, I can make the time now,' she thought. Energy trickled down to the tips of her hidden fingers.

"Then just tell me Sakura," Naruto whispered only holding in his frustrated snarl. He clenched his hand and only slightly noted the fact that it was still bruised and in slight pain.

He had never felt so weak in his life. If anything the last time he had felt this way was when he had almost lost Sasuke to Orochimaru after the chuunin exams. That had been what had pushed him to get stronger, to go off and travel with Jiraiya for two years, so that he would never have to be faced with losing his best friend ever again. He never would have guessed that the journey to keep the ones he loved would have pushed one of them away.

Sakura scowled as sweat began to gather at her brow, 'one minute,' she thought as she kept her eye contact with the kyuubi. She needed to make the use of energy and this would be the only chance she would be able to get. "You were my family out of my family. You weren't just my friends. You were my brothers and although Sasuke moans and groans that losing his family to death is the worst fate of all, losing your family because they CHOOSE to leave you behind is just that much worse. Now do you understand?" Sakura knew that she was digging in a pile of lies, no one needed to know the real Itachi and his motives, and she would take the knowledge that he had bestowed on her to her grave.

"But you don't hate us…"

Sakura blinked and raised her eyebrow, "What makes you think that?" Sakura asked, 'two minutes.' She was successfully keeping him talking and distracted enough not to notice.

"Because you didn't kill us Sakura-chan. You could have killed us and you didn't, you don't hate us…"

"Wouldn't you rather I hate you?" Sakura asked slowly.

"Why would I want that Sakura-chan?" Naruto mumbled as he took a step forward, reaching out for her with his now normal hand. The claws were gone and so were the bruises. He froze as Sakura snarled as him and flicked her exposed wrist. He didn't want to go back to fighting her; he didn't want to end it the way Tsunade said that it would have to end.

Sakura bit her lip, 'three minutes,' "There is a thin line between love and hate Naruto," Sakura whispered.

"That is total bullshit Sakura-chan and you know it. Why are you even talking about such cliché things anyways?"

Sakura closed her eyes softly for just a fleeting moment in thought and remembrance, letting a soft smile grace her lips before she snapped them back open. Letting down her guard down now that she was so far was the stupidest thing she could do. Concentration was the key, 'four minutes.' "You really never will understand then. But I suppose it's understandable, only those who are like me can linger on a thought like that. You can't do that can you Naruto?"

"Neh? Sakura-chan?"

"Wh-, if… you become the Hokage Naruto… if again comes the time when you have to debate if you truly will do anything for your village, remember me… okay?"

"Sakura-chan," Naruto stated confidently, "You will be there for me when I become Hokage. I'm going to take you back home."

Sakura shook her head softly, "No, no I'm not. You can't, I won't let you."

And that was when he felt it, a great build up of chakra flared into life in front of him as the hand that was hidden behind her back was brought forward. Naruto's eyes widened in terror as green light bled out his cerulean blue irises, "Impossible…" he muttered as he gaped at the glowing ball of energy, "the rasengan?"

Sakura grinned, "That's right Naruto," sweat droplets ran down her face from the exertion, "Although it's different… I can do it too and you know that I won't miss my mark Naruto. So what will it be? You or me? Your defected 'friend' or the future of your village, your want, no, need to be Hokage? Are you going to let me kill you right now or will you be strong enough to kill me?" Her green eyes turned stone cold; he could see nothing in their emerald depths, all he could see was the mass ball of swirling chakra in her palm.

"Sakura-chan, no!"

"I won't miss my mark Naruto, it's time for you to decide!" Sakura screamed as she shifted her stance once again. The glowing ball of green chakra flared.

Naruto cursed as the world around him slowed, he saw her take her first steps, and he made the seals on reflex. One clone audibly formed into life beside him with a loud poof and in the next instant his palm was filled with swirling blue chakra. Red clouds danced in front of his eyes as he swallowed deeply and tried to cry out to her. Sakura was there, she was right in front of him and although Naruto willed for himself not to do it, to stop his hand before it landed on its target all he could feel was blood splashing on his face as her attack hit him square in the chest.

His blue eyes widened in shock as her chakra surged through him. It raced through his pathways like electricity and made a direct path for the seal on his stomach and then he bit his lip and clawed at his chest in pain as the kyuubi's chakra fought with all of its might to counter the influx of foreign energy. He fell backwards, landing squarely on his back as he clutched tightly to his heart. His chest lifted into the air as all of the breath was drained away from him and when the pressure could build no further, Naruto slumped back down onto the ground.

And then the pain faded away.

And he looked up, bleary eyed.

There was no blood on his jacket. So where had the blood on his face come from?

Naruto looked further down his body.

All he could see what a crumpled mess of bloody pink.

* * *

**Next Time on Behind**

"Oh god Sakura-chan you're still alive, I thought I had…"

"I need you to do something for me Naruto, one last wish for a former friend."

"Put me beside him please, I just… I just need to be beside him please…"

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

The countdown that Sakura does is mentioned previously while she was talking to Itachi. It only takes her five minutes now to complete the technique.

Meh... This chapter... I liked the Naruto and Sakura fighting scene LOL

Sorry for the immense lateness... forgive me now for the next chapter


	30. Behind

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 30: Behind

Kisame cursed as the man in front of him opened the sixth gate of chakra. He had eliminated the other two shinobi as threats, but apparently the elimination had only brought out the best of the shinobi in front of him and it was frustrating. "The bitch wasn't kidding when she said I would have the fight of my life," Kisame grinned as he used his sword to prevent himself from sliding back any further on the surface of the unnatural lake.

Gai stood in front of him, chakra flaring around his body wildly as his eyes shifted to the prone form of Neji, torso ripped and torn, lying in the tree roots further away and amongst a bundle of kaiten craters. Gai shifted his eyes up to the canopy then and spotted Genma holding onto the trunk with all of his remaining energy. His limbs were shaking from exertion and even the senbon in his mouth had been used up in the fight. Blood dripped from the branch he was balanced on and it was obvious that the man could barely keep himself standing much less move. Gai turned his eyes back to his opponent. "You shark man…"

"The name is Hoshigaki Kisame," the sword wielder snarled, why the man in front of him hadn't yet registered that bit of information was confounding to him, everyone remembered who he was. This was the reason why Kisame was frustrated that it just had to be this man that was left standing out of his three opponents; the other two had taken the good effort to remember his name.

"I don't care about your name, no one else is going to either once I'm done with you," Gai stated as he shifted his stance and clenched his fist. It was a stance that was different from all of his previous ones and Kisame couldn't help the slight upward turn of the corner of his lips despite his personal annoyances.

Suddenly Kisame's eyes widened as Gai's new pose led to an entirely new tactic. Kisame dived out of the way as Gai slammed into the water and bounced right off of the surface. The impact sent a tidal wave surging toward Kisame. The sword master dispelled the water as only a light spray touched his face. "No, it will be you who won't matter at the end of this battle," Kisame growled as he twirled the Samehada and then leapt at the Konoha jounin.

A burst of familiar chakra suddenly washed over them and Kisame brought the force of his blow down on the clone that the jounin had created. Within a second of the chakra wave appearing, it faded into nothing. Kisame shook his head as a grimace graced his lips, "Fuck," he muttered, "The bitch just had to get herself killed and I was holding on to the hope that the world wouldn't get too boring too. What fun we could have had if she had just decided to kill them and live. Doesn't matter now, she did promise me the fight of my life, at least the little bitch didn't lie." Kisame took just a moment, more so than he would have done in any other battle to face toward direction in which the wave had come from. Kisame bared his teeth and gave a mock salute before he honored the last thing that Sakura had given him.

Kisame jumped back as Gai attacked him. Kisame's black beady eyes widened in surprise when the man disappeared from sight before a fist landed on his abdomen. "I'm going to take you back to Konoha," Gai growled, "There you will have to explain you lack of youthfulness…"

"Bullshit! I'm going to make you remember my name you ugly excuse for a shinobi!"

"And atone for them!"

Kisame couldn't help but feel like that fate the man in the green spandex had in store for him was one he had been presented with before… by the dead little, pink haired woman. Kisame already knew that he would prefer death to being interrogated by this strange, but obviously powerful man but Kisame also knew that it wouldn't come down to that kind of a decision. "You'll have to capture me first," Kisame cackled as he swung his sword with one hand and created a series of seals rapidly with his other. Kisame ripped off his cloak and grinned with a thousand sharks leapt out of the water around him, "And I'm not going to make it easy for you." This was the last thing that Sakura had left behind for him; he was going to enjoy it well.

_Behind_

Deidara was pissed off. The fat boy had suddenly grown in size and had knocked him off of his bird with what looked like butterfly wings; the flight toward the ground had not been as thrilling as one would hope to believe but landing on the ground with no problem was easy enough although his hands were slightly displeased with the dirt that had been unexpectedly shoved into their mouths. The problem had come right after he had landed and the tongues in his hands tried to scrap off the dirt before launching another attack. The girl with the pale eyes had attacked him with her palms and fingers, he recognized that she had sealed off the chakra pathways to his leg before he had been able to blow her back into the shelter of the trees. Stupid hands, as fun as it was that they sometimes had their own personalities, it was times like that that the trait was more annoying than amusing.

His works of art were still scattered around the battlefield as he searched for the chakra signatures of the ones that had yet to be detonated. Deidara grinned as he realized that he could win this battle easily even if he couldn't move as he tried to rewire his legs. Deidara grinned as he sensed the little girl again and quickly produced the seals, "And she goes out with a bang! Yeah," Deidara snickered as a burst of light came from his side along with a shrill scream and the delicious sound of the scraping of flesh against bark. Dirt and debris clouded his peripheral vision for a second but Deidara didn't mind as he set another one of his works of art in action.

"Damn it!" Another one of the boys shouted as he came careening out of the trees with the massive dog that had quickly taken his ugly form. Deidara winced as the awful smelling beasts came whirling at him. "Gatsugaa!"

Deidara grinned again as he tossed the molded clay birds in his hand into the center of their formation before using his hands to take a grand jump back. Art was better observed from a distance in which he could see his whole masterpiece. Although impressive were the boy and his little beast, the attack hadn't been nearly fast enough. Deidara's eyes widened in wonder as a fleeting mural was painted in the sky with blood, drifting ash and falling sparks. "Absolutely beautiful," he sighed when he saw two bodies fly to opposite ends of the clearing to complete the masterpiece. Deidara disappeared into the trees. Frowning slightly he noted that the girl's body wasn't lying where it should have been although there were several broken trees to show that his attack had indeed hit. Deidara couldn't help but chuckle and think that his tree damage could probably give Sakura a run for her money. Deidara twitched both of his legs and found that he could now use his hands for what they were meant to do, "Fuck, missed," he snarled as he reached into his pouch again. The girl was better than he had thought.

Landing on a branch he launched off quickly as more seals raced through his fingers. Two of his creations burst into light as Deidara tossed a bundle of clay into the air; he was pleased when he heard a loud grunt from one of the two male shinobi who had evaded his attacks until then. He really hoped that he had killed the bastard fat boy. Another one of his birds appeared from the glop of clay he had tossed into the air and he hopped on to the creation and circled high into the air. He spotted the girl in a thick ring of trees trying to treat her bleeding head and charred entire right side, it seemed as though she was no longer a threat. "Wish I had killed her," Deidara snarled. His left leg was still feeling odd although it was not useless, he was just glad that she had not gotten to his arms. He thought for a moment about finishing her off, but he needed to get to the boy who could change size first.

The dog and the dog boy were once again reunited and the fat boy seemed to be preparing to grow large once again despite his singed hair. Deidara frowned, he was sure that there had been one more opponent. "You forgot about me," a voice muttered from behind him. Deidara's eyes widened as a stream of black bugs scuttled out from the underside of his bird, the boy with the sunglasses appeared right behind him.

"How did you get on here, yeah? Not a good idea being up here with me, yeah," Deidara replied as he quickly reached into his pouch again. His fingers twitched when he touched his clay, it didn't feel like how it was supposed to. If anything his clay was now crawling, Deidara growled, the bugs were now embedded into his clay and crawling into the mouth of his hands. "You fucking nasty bastard!"

"Never forget about me," Shino stated quietly as he disintegrated into more of his little insects. Deidara sneered as he looked at his hands. The little black things were altering the shaping of chakra in his mouths and the clay he had was now useless.

"That's what I get for being careless," Deidara snarled as he looked up into the horizon. A bright flash of green light clouded his eyes for a moment before he blinked away the after affects. A smile of melancholy flashed on his face as the green light disappeared. "Guess we can't ever see if you can blow people through more trees than me yeah... See yah Sakura but you can't leave me behind, I can absolutely outdo you in flashy bangs, yeah."

"Why is he still up there?" Chouji muttered, "He knows I'll just knock him down again."

Shino stood beside him and lowered his sunglasses slightly. Some of his bugs were keeping an eye on Hinata, but it was bizarre that the man they were fighting against had his eyes closed and seemed to have been talking to the horizon.

And as though Deidara had heard Chouji, the blonde haired man jumped off of his bird and landed on the ground with a cloud of dust swirling up all around him. The bird came flying at him and remade itself into a bundle of clay. Deidara allowed a wide smirk to pull at his lips as he slowly undid his cloak and shrugged the dark garment off of his shoulder. His appearance on the ground had gathered up the three boys and dog, the girl also wasn't very far off. It was set up perfect for him. "Time to show you my greatest creation!"

Shino's eyes widened fractionally as he immediately recognized that there was one more mouth that he hadn't taken care of.

_Behind_

Sasori cursed all medics despite himself as he watched his most prized puppet once again be blown to bits. Why did everyone suddenly have antidotes to nearly impossible protein complexes these days? Lightning surged up the chakra strings before he dissipated them and stood back to observe all of the work that he had managed to do on the geniuses before him. Although he had promised Sakura long ago that he would not turn her into a puppet against her wishes, it didn't mean that he would not do the same to those that she had formerly called her teammate and the copy nin was such a hard opponent to resist. The man was nearly perfect.

"Shikamaru, are you still okay?" Kakashi wheezed as the raikiri died down in his hand.

Shikamaru nodded as he shakily stood up on his own two feet. He was glad that the massive manifestations of the Sandiame Kazekage's iron sand were now blowing away with the wind. He couldn't help but wonder how Sakura had managed to fight this opponent the first time she had met him and alone at that. "How many antidotes do you have left?" Shikamaru asked through several coughs as he tried to plug the hole in his abdomen. A long scar also marred the side of his face, blood running down the side of his neck and staining the collar of his jonin vest.

"Two," Kakashi replied as he turned his eyes back up to the puppet master who was regarding them with a certain smirk on his face. Kakashi looked better than Shikamaru did but no state other than perfect would allow them to win this battle now. Kakashi's thoughts were like Shikamaru's… how much had Sakura actually grown in the time he had been gone?

"This guy is total different from Hidan, he's dangerously intelligent," Shikamaru stated as his eyes scanned and roved the environment, "Smarter than my father I gander."

Sasori watched with his keen eyes at the two men fighting him. One of them had already needed two antidotes, it was the one that Sakura had called the genius of her generation, but it seemed as though part of his mind was elsewhere. It probably had to do with the blonde that Sakura had called Yamanaka Ino or well… pig. Sasori rolled his eyes slightly. He was in love with an absurd woman.

The other man Hatake Kakashi, the copy nin, him and his stash of over one thousand jutsus had managed to make up for everything that they lacked in when it came to Sasori's attacks. Kakashi didn't have the dodging capabilities or the strength of Sakura, but he was obviously much more experienced and skilled. Sasori's eyes shone at the prospect of having that being under his control for forever. "Impressive, I've only had to resort to greater measures than the Sandiame twice before in my life," Sasori stated with a mocking dawdle in his tone.

Kakashi's jaw clenched as he recognized the jab at his female teammate, "You bastard, using something like that against her," Kakashi growled.

Sasori's eyebrow rose in wonder, the copy nin was oddly unperceptive of the kunoichi that had been under his tutelage, but Sakura had gotten her distain of her team from somewhere and Sasori understood perfectly where, even better he saw in the copy nin what Sakura had failed to see and could see where he had gotten his preconceptions from. He was indeed in love with someone undoubtedly foolish. "She actually destroyed the Sandiame when I fought her, all by herself," Sasori smirked and watched as the man's eyes opened in conjecture, "I had to fix him in order to use him against you two, you should appreciate the effort."

"Sakura…"

"And that was over a year ago, imagine her now. Do you still think your little blonde teammate will be able to take her away from us… from me?" Sasori smirked, oh how he was enjoying the tragic look that was reflecting in the copy nin's eyes.

"From you?" Shikamaru snapped as his eyes strayed from the environment and landed on the puppet master. He analyzed everything quickly as Sasori removed his Akatsuki cloak and his eyes widened in wonder as an inhuman structure was revealed to him. "You turned yourself into a…"

"The ultimate form of my art," Sasori replied simply as the cloak billowed in the wind and dropped away from his body, "Sakura doesn't very much think so, but someday she will be convinced." She wouldn't, her head was too thick and there were other circumstances that would pass but the men in front of him didn't have to know that.

Kakashi's jaw clenched once again as he picked up on the further implications that the puppet master was suggesting and wanted to wipe that disgusting and half-crazed smirk from the Akatsuki member's face, "You'll never touch her as long as I'm alive."

"I probably won't," Sasori stated with a wave of his hand an air of nonchalance, "Not as long as she doesn't want it. But as said, she will be convinced someday." Sasori loved being able to provoke someone as prestigious as the copy nin, he loved the insight that being a puppet master had given him. Lies were always best received when they sparked so much… hatred. If that hatred for him became eternal, it was then a work of art.

"Kakashi calm down," Shikamaru hissed through his teeth, "He just showed us his weakness. If he hadn't removed his cloak we would have gone for random vitals, but look…"

Kakashi turned his eyes away from Sasori's amused orbs and observed the puppet masters body. While Sasori had egged Kakashi on, Shikamaru had dissected the whole situation, "The thing on his chest is beating slightly," Kakashi muttered back.

Shikamaru nodded, "I'm going to take a really good guess and say that, that will be the only way to kill him considering that he is himself a puppet."

"I'll agree with you on that, but why in all names would he reveal such a vital point to us so willingly?"

"He's probably extremely confident in his abilities to win."

"Arrogant…" Kakashi muttered his mind still absorbed in the man's relations to his female student. He wanted to wipe that smirk right off the puppet master's face.

"Oi, Kakashi are you okay to fight?"

"I should be asking you the same thing. His confidence probably comes down to how many antidotes that we have left…"

"The sooner this is over, the sooner I'll be getting to Ino," Shikamaru replied with a smile, "Man, how troublesome, I need a smoke." And as though that phrase had been a flag, the fight started once again.

Kakashi and Shikamaru weaved through the trees taking with them the knowledge of the last fight. If Sasori manipulated himself at all like he manipulated his puppets, they could believe now that they had finally received an advantage in the fight. They had been wrong.

Kakashi choked as he was slammed against a tree by one of a hundred puppets. He had to use all of his strength to shove the puppet away and dodge a second puppet that was running at him with a poisoned axe. Shikamaru sneered as he blocked a sword coming down on his head with his chakra blades. The image of his old sensei appeared before him and Asuma-sensei smiled at his young student. Shikamaru scowled as the shadows under his feet began to fester.

The moment that the puppet was shoved back the seals went flying… and Asuma had turned into Ino. A tear slipped out of Shikamaru's eyes as he prayed that she was still alive.

The true deciding twist came ten minutes later when the last two of the vials had once again been used up in the fight. More than half the puppets had been taking down, but neither of them had been able to land even a single hit on the puppet master. Kakashi was as close to panic as he had ever been. Above all things, he could not let his partner die. Sasori had not been gambling when he had revealed his vital point.

A bright surging aura of green light had washed over them and Sasori's eyes had clouded for just a span of a second. He saw the flash of silvery metal that came right at him, but he couldn't make the green fade away. It had taken all of his will power not to turn toward the source of the chakra… but that wouldn't have mattered anyways.

Sasori knew that he felt love and that it should have been impossible. But his heart, his beating, bleeding heart was bursting with pain and it wasn't because of the blade that was sticking out of it.

The next thing the puppet master had felt was the cold, a cold that he had heard about from many of his enemies… but never did he think he would feel himself, "I did not believe," Sasori muttered, "I did not think…" as he heard the dry sobs of the copy nin beside him. "I will not be left behind." It appeared that the man had realized what had happened for them to be able win the battle. Sasori sighed, "Distractions indeed."

_Behind_

Sasuke shuddered as Itachi's fingers slid slowly down his forehead before relinquishing the touch. Sasuke's skin was cold, his mouth was dry and he felt absolutely lifeless. Sasuke collapsed onto his knees and he stared at his brother as the man died before him. His older brother's red eyes died out into the coal darkness that Sasuke had remembered as a child. A small smile appeared on Itachi's face, the first one that he had seen in too long of a time. And then his brother fell beside him with the dust swirling in patches.

Sasuke sighed as he flopped down to the ground on his chest. He registered that Itachi was still breathing beside him, but that wouldn't be true for much longer. Itachi touched Sasuke's hair softly and Sasuke couldn't help but shiver from the touch. The repulsion despite the truth was built into him so well, but as Itachi used his last remaining strength to turn Sasuke over so that they could look at each other, Sasuke couldn't help but cry as he saw Itachi's continuing… brotherly… smile. Sasuke's eyes stayed focused even though the rest of his body was on fire, "Why… brother?"

Itachi coughed and spluttered as blood poured from his mouth, "You should thank your teammate for allowing me the time to tell you…" Itachi's hand dropped from Sasuke's hair as Itachi look up at the sky and closed his eyes in remembrance. It wasn't painful even though he knew it should have been.

"Sakura…"

"You never should have let that girl go," Itachi replied as his body convulsed in pain and his breathing hitched ever so slightly. Itachi bent over and braced himself against the ground as he vomited blood from his mouth. "I fear that my brother has made many mistakes in his life and that that one has been one of them. You cared about her, did you not? In your own twisted way? I understand twisted little brother, I truly do." Itachi sighed and rolled to the ground. He closed his eyes and continued to smile.

"I…"

"We have time, but not that much, so please do not interrupt me. There will be no one else who can finish, so please listen, little brother," Itachi whispered before spitting up more blood. He could no longer feel anything but the pressure in his heart and the fading away of his vision. Sakura's chakra had long faded away from his being during the fight with his little brother, but thought of her still numbed the pain. 'How peculiar,' Itachi thought.

Sasuke lay still as Itachi's lips moved, blood pouring over them, to tell the story that Sasuke had wanted to hear for the past year. Before then, he hadn't cared about anything but revenge, but now he understood. As the blood was pouring from Itachi's mouth, the tears were pouring out of Sasuke's eyes. He couldn't help but thank Kakashi and now apparently Sakura for what they had both given him. He had gotten some of his family back. Happiness was a strange emotion, it came when you least expected it. Itachi was still dying.

Kakashi had been right all those years ago, when he had said revenge would do nothing for him. He was glad Kakashi had given him more purpose to the killing of his brother and as Itachi finished off his tale in conjunction with his last breath a green beam of light shone out in the distance.

Itachi's smile slowly disappeared from his lips as all the feeling in him began to recede as well. Sasuke watched as the life in his brother disappeared, the last thing he saw his brother do was slightly twitch his finger in the direction of the bright light. Sasuke groaned as he lifted himself off the ground with all his willpower, he needed to go find his team, the team that had saved his life, had kept him sane.

Sasuke limped away from his dead brother, not once turning back. He would be back later to retrieve the dead body. That was the least he could do for the man who had loved him with all of his twisted and shriveled heart, but had loved him nonetheless.

_Behind_

Naruto faltered as he pushed himself off of the ground and winced from the effort that it took. Although all of the pain was gone, his muscles ached and his heart was still beating abnormally fast. The breath in his lungs wasn't coming out like it should have been and his eyes were wide with horror. "S-Sakura-chan…" Naruto swallowed at he crawled towards the prone body of the girl that was one huge part of everything that he was, "Sakura-chan! Talk to me Sakura-chan, please talk to me right now!"

His blow had struck her in the stomach and the blood that was flowing from the wound didn't seem like it matched the gaping hole. Even from the distance he was now at he could already see the insides of her; he couldn't believe that he was seeing her intestines and it was his entire fault. Naruto's eyes watered as he got even closer and noticed that Sakura was quivering, still breathing and still alive. "N-Naruto…" Her eyes were so hollow.

"Oh god Sakura-chan you're still alive, I thought I had…" Naruto wanted to cry with everything that he had. Why wasn't there a hole in his stomach too? There should have been a huge gaping hole, he should have flown through a multitude of trees, he shouldn't have been able to move… why was he still moving?

"I don't have much time Naruto, please just listen to me," Sakura muttered quickly through her low gasps and the bounding of her blood between her ears. Couldn't Naruto even hear her? She didn't know anymore. Tears ran down her face as a very important chakra signature to her disappeared within the forest, the signal that was positioned the closest to her. He was so close, but so… so very far and why was it that in this very moment all that filled her mind was him. Sakura sobbed despite herself and turned her head to look in the direction that Sasori had lost his life. That was when Naruto noticed that Sakura was pumping green chakra into her stomach and that the healing was doing nothing for the gaping hole. The blood was soaking into the knees of his pants.

Naruto was reminded of the exam Tsunade had done on Kakuzu after the fight. His rasengan didn't just do immediate damage, Naruto's eyes widened; Sakura was fighting off the destruction of all of her cells. "S-Sakura-chan, I'm so sorry, I d-didn't… it wasn't supposed to happen this way!" Naruto couldn't stop crying, he couldn't stop shaking… what had he done?

Sakura merely smiled slightly as the pain burned at her nerves. She needed to get to him. Sakura turned her head to look up at the man that she had given her life so save, "Shh, Naruto. Just listen to me please," Sakura whispered, "I'm low on chakra and this isn't going to be able to last forever. Doomed if I do, doomed if I don't…"

"W-what do you want Sakura-chan?" Naruto muttered as he lowered his face close to her mouth. The blood on the ground stained his hands and the smell overwhelmed his nostrils, but he couldn't care less.

"D-don't use the kyuubi's chakra too much until you have it under control, okay?" Sakura muttered, "It's killing you from the inside out although it's healing your surface wounds. My technique is only going to stave off the internal damage for so long…"

"Sakura-chan…you…"

"You need to marry a prodigal medic… or become the Hokage, then anyone will heal you all the time… for free…"

"Of course I'll become Hokage and you'll be the one to heal me Sakura-chan!"

"Naruto…"

"You will!"

"Become a good Hokage Naruto, you'll do well," Sakura murmured, "Now I know for sure that you'll do very, very well."

Naruto didn't understand, why was his friend saying all that she was saying, saying it like she wasn't going to be there? Naruto clenched his fists and her blood spurted from between his fingers. "Sakura… I killed you… didn't you want to kill me… why?"

"Don't think about it too much Naruto. You'll hurt yourself trying," Sakura smirked as she tried to get out a laugh. The lapse in concentration and the movement caused a rush of blood to pour from her wound and Naruto grappled at her abdomen trying his best to stop the flow. His nails were already stained red from the liquid and his fingers shook when he pressed his palm to the wound. Was the wound even bigger than his palms? "I need you to do something for me Naruto, one last wish for a former friend."

"Still a friend, you're still a friend Sakura-chan."

"Think whatever you want to think Naruto," Sakura sighed as she felt her chakra reserves deplete and the haziness of unconsciousness descend on her. She reverted some of her chakra away from her stomach and to her head, she needed to stay awake, but now she had even less time. "Take me to Sasori, please Naruto."

"B-but Sakura-chan! You can't possibly mean that boy with the puppets!"

"I told you not to think too much. Just please Naruto…"

Naruto nodded frantically as he put one arm under her shoulders and the other beneath her knees. The slight jostling caused Sakura to gasp from pain as his shirt absorbed the blood dripping from her abdomen. Naruto looked around the field hopelessly as he tried to locate the puppet master; he felt nothing, no distinctive signatures. Naruto held in a sob as Sakura smiled sadly up at him. The boy was obviously losing himself.

Sakura smiled softly as she counted to three in her head. Shikamaru then came bursting out of the trees, "Where's Ino!" he shouted, Naruto tilted his head to the back of the field where the blond was still laying.

"Where's Sasori?" Naruto shouted back in a bit of a panic as Shikamaru made his way to his teammate.

"Straight that way," Shikamaru replied without thought. Asuma was on his heels. Naruto nodded and ran from the field with the soft echoes of a man shouting 'kai' desperately in the wind. Naruto panicked when Sakura's breathes started to slow even more than before and he picked up his pace. His heart clenched, he didn't know what to do.

Sasuke suddenly appeared by his side, still limping in his runs but seemingly focused on the bloody bundle in Naruto's arms. "What the hell dobe?"

"Hi, Sasuke…" Sakura murmured in a slight daze as her chakra signal flickered. Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized why Itachi had saved his last strength to look at the green chakra wave that had washed over them. A rock lodged in his throat as he looked over Naruto's shoulder to see just how much blood he smelled and gaping wound in Sakura's stomach.

Sasuke paused a blood washed over his vision and he puked while falling to his knees. Despite the truth the memories would never leave him, he would always be haunted by his brother's crazy love. Sasuke looked up and watched as the orange of Naruto's clothes disappeared between the trees. Sasuke knew that he had to catch up; he knew that Sakura was also reaching his last moments.

Naruto suddenly stopped and Sakura bit her lip in pain, but she could see him now and the pain seemed to fade. A slower bloomed in her chest as a breath of relief nearly ended her. Kakashi was sitting near the puppet master, his elbow rested on his knee as his hand buried into his face. He looked up when the others approached. He had been expecting them. The calm of the dead and missing allowed Kakashi to regain his footing and all of the dots had connected. The puppet master had also told him to stay, one last useless thing he could do for the person who had managed to kill him. That had finalized everything that he now knew as he stared at little Sakura's serene face.

Sasori was lying in the soil, chest down with his face turning towards her. His normally beautiful brown eyes were hollow. Sakura took a deep intake of breath as tears ran down her face from the sight. He was supposed to have lasted forever, but now there he lay, dead even before her. He had left her behind. Naruto's breathing also increased as well, "Sakura-chan… what are we doing here?"

"Put me beside him please, I just… I just need to be beside him please…" Sakura sobbed as her body shook and her fingers clawed desperately for her love. Blood began to drip from her in greater quantities as Naruto gently placed her down beside the puppet master. Naruto hadn't managed to let go of one of Sakura's hands as he kneeled down beside his best friend. He was still empty. Her hands were turning cold.

Kakashi stood up and stood beside his two male protégés as Sakura turned to her side and grasped Sasori's cold hands. They were colder than they had ever been before in the time that she had known him. Kakashi knew that Sakura wasn't hearing or seeing them anymore in these moments. "A-aren't you g-glad S-Sasori… that you never turned me into a puppet?" Sakura whispered as she curled herself closer to him. "You still would have died and I would have lived on…"

Somewhere on the battlefield Sakura knew that a shark had killed its last, that an explosives master had created his ultimate masterpiece and that a brother had finally found his peace. But knowing that couldn't even compare to knowing what was happening here right now.

She held in her sobs as she stared into her love's eyes and cursed herself for ever having let any of this happen. She was weak, but this was the ultimate masterpiece of her flows. "Sakura…" Kakashi muttered.

"I'm sorry," Sakura suddenly stated as tears ran down her face. She clutched Sasori's hand tighter as the pain in her abdomen increased. All of her chakra was draining away. "I'm so sorry for everything. This can't be freedom…"

"Sakura…" Sasuke muttered as he stared at his dying pink haired teammate. He didn't know what he was feeling, all he thought was that he had been numb, that he had been numb to this all a long time ago. He had been wrong.

Sakura seemed to pause as she smiled at Sasori. Then she blinked and she had turned to face her Team 7 for the last time.

"Naruto, you're going to make a great Hokage someday you know. You've already made such awful decisions, ruling a country is going to be so easy for you. You're going to do what's best for Konoha, I know you will. If you can kill me for Konoha…"

"I never!"

"Then you can protect everyone despite all circumstances. Sasuke, you're going to get to live your life how you want to now, no more ties to your past that will destroy your present, you can finally let go." Sasuke shook his head, he knew that he would never be able to let go. "And Kakashi-sensei, don't blame yourself for me, because I know that you will blame yourself. I had every chance to run away, to come back and I chose not to."

"Sakura-chan…"

"I… I so wanted to leave you three behind. To move on with different people that were important to me and I thought that I had," Sakura whispered. Sasuke and Kakashi kneeled down beside Naruto to hear her better; her voice was fading. Kakashi put a comforting hand on her knee, Sasuke on her shoulder and Naruto's other shaking hand was on her waist. "But… there is a thin line between love and hate…" Naruto's eyes widened, "And I couldn't leave you behind, not like that…" Sasuke swallowed deeply as he contemplated Sakura's role in Itachi's life and Itachi's words about the girl, "But I guess in the end… in the end I have actually done it. I've done it in the most final way possible…" Sakura muttered as she clenched Sasori's hand and brought it to her lips, "I'll be joining you soon Sasori… kun… in a form so eternal… you could in a way say that it is the perfection of your art. I've finally let you, Naruto… Kakashi… Sasuke, know what it feels like to be… left…" Sakura gasped, "to be left…"

Naruto wanted to cry out in pain and tears as Sakura quivered under him and the mass of green chakra no longer stopped her bleeding and the cell degradation. Kakashi clutched tighter onto Sakura's knee as memories came rushing back to him of all the right things he had ever done and how they out weighed the wrong. Sasuke saw his home and the way that she was meant to have fit into his life if he had only not grown up to be so foolish.

Sakura took in her final breath as a smile graced her face…

"…Behind."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

Last official chapter! The epilogue will come... sooner than this chapter did... Originally there was supposed to be a vote for an epilogue because this was how I planned to end the whole story... but the more I wrote the more necessary I believed the epilogue to be. Of course if you like the ending, then you don't need to read the epilogue.

Anyways... thank you very much for everything my lovely readers. I love all of you so much and thank you for all of the reviews as well. You guys are the best and the readers are half the fanfiction. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter and the epilogue as well (when it comes out).

Hugs to all!


	31. After

Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Epilogue: After

It had been a decade since that day. Naruto shoved his hands into his pockets as he closed the door behind him and left his office. His assistants knew where he was going; it had been the same routine for the past ten years. Everyone in the village knew where he was going, some of the village was even joining him.

The Rokudaime Hokage walked down the steps of the Hokage Tower and at the bottom was his most faithful shinobi, his best friend. "Morning teme," Naruto grinned with a slight tilt of his head.

"Good morning dobe," Sasuke grinned back as he tapped the bouquet of flowers that was sitting on his shoulders.

"Where's Kakashi?"

"Late?"

"Already at the cenotaph?"

"More than likely."

"Stupid old man always has to get there earliest," Naruto scoffed as Sasuke joined him in walking out the large doors. Naruto waved to the secretaries and they waved back at him with bright wide-eyed smiles on their faces.

"Can't believe your wife doesn't beat on you for all the women throwing themselves at your feet."

"You can't help the disadvantages of being the village hero."

"You can't help still being a fifteen year old brat."

"Ah, who's pointing that out?"

"The Hokage mountain has a picture of your fifteen year old face."

"I was seventeen teme," Naruto retorted as he waved at one of the shopkeepers. Seventeen had been the age in which they had fought the war against the Akatsuki and in which he had been elected as the new Hokage. The election had been in the light of Tsunade's death. Naruto blinked as he remembered. The Hokage hadn't technically died from grief, she had been too strong of a woman for that, but her inability to protect her apprentice had made her risk everything to protect her village. Tsunade had succeeded with her unprecedented power but had joined Jiraiya who had left them at the beginning of the war.

"You've fooled every visitor into the city."

"Ah, well they don't know anything."

"Dobe."

"Morning Hokage-sama!" Kiba shouted as he jumped in to take a spot on the other side of the Hokage. Akamaru barked merrily and nudged the back of Naruto's knees before the dog took its spot right beside his master.

"Inuzuka," Sasuke stated with a raised eyebrow.

"Uchiha," Kiba retorted back with a grin on his face, "What's up with the greeting?"

"Don't you always sleep in?"

"It's a special date today, ten years is usually one of the big markers isn't it?"

"Aburame told you he would kill you if you were late again didn't he?" Sasuke smirked.

Kiba chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, "Yah."

"I'm glad that you take my threats seriously," Shino muttered as he joined the trio from the shadows with a basket of flowers in his hands.

Naruto managed to let out a high-pitched scream when the bug user appeared, never in his life would he be able to get used to how that man worked, Hokage or not. He was still one of the most formidable people that Naruto had ever known. "So glad that there aren't any visitors today, imagine if they had seen Naruto screaming like a little girl," Kiba grinned.

"That is Hokage-sama to you dog breath," Naruto scoffed and knocked Kiba right over the head.

"Imagine if they had seen our oh so worthy Hokage-sama scream like a girl," Kiba amended before his face was planted harshly into the dirt.

"What was that about girls?" Tenten asked as she continued to use her palm to rub his face into the ground while balancing herself on the balls of her feet on the small of Kiba's back.

"Girls are crazy awesome," Kiba cried as Akamaru barked a greeting at Tenten. Tenten smiled, patted the dog on his head lovingly and jumped off of Kiba's back with a flip. She landed in the dirt with a small thump and suddenly Neji was by her side with all the colors of emotion on his face. Lots of things had changed in the ten years after.

"Pregnant!" the Hyuuga hissed, "You are still pregnant! You will be pregnant for a lot longer, stop that!"

"I'll live, he'll live, stop being such a worry wart," Tenten giggled as she latched onto Neji's arm, "Hyuuga Lee will be one hell of a little guy and something like that won't kill him." Neji only managed to hiss at her one more time before she giggled and stole the bouquet of flowers from his hands. "Your attitude is going to wilt the poor babies and remember our Lee likes his flowers youthful!"

"This is going to get really confusing later on isn't it?" Kiba muttered to Naruto. The Hokage nodded in agreeing although he understood perfectly well why Tenten had chosen to name their future son as they did.

"Where are the last three?" Sasuke murmured as he looked up and down the street.

Tenten went silent in her giggles for a little bit before she looked over her shoulder with a small sad smile, "Ino had another attack yesterday, they might be a little bit late."

"It's been ten years," Shino murmured, "The pain never does stop."

"At least now it's been narrowed down to a time span of one week around the date."

"Do you think it really is something physical that's wrong with her?"

"Not in the least… Kurenai always did say that taijutsu and ninjutsu could kill but that genjutsu destroyed. I finally understand what she means," Kiba sighed as he rubbed the back of his head.

Neji lowered his eyes to the ground as he shifted around Tenten so that he could put a hand on her stomach, "The pain never stops." Tenten put her hand on top of Neji's and smiled up at him. The baby had saved them both from what would have been a continuing downward spiral in a series of missions that would have eventually killed them both. Lee had always been the teammate that had watched out for them and they could only hope that the child that was growing in Tenten would be half the man that their third teammate had been.

"I don't think they'll go to the cenotaph," Sasuke stated as he tapped his bouquet of flowers again.

"Disrespect," Shino muttered darkly as his glasses flashed in the sun's light.

Naruto placed a hand gently on Shino's shoulder and squeezed, "Hinata wouldn't like you talking about Ino like that. You know that when Ino has one of her attacks she is barely in any condition to show respect even if she could go. Shikamaru is probably lugging her around if she is demanding to go anywhere at all."

Shino seemed to frown before he nodded and brushed Naruto's hand away. The village gave way to the trees and the trees soon gave way to a clearing. Before the large cenotaph Gai, Kurenai and Kakashi were already standing. When the Hokage arrived Gai had the due respect to stand up from his kneeling position and Kurenai bowed politely. "Hokage-sama," Kurenai greeted with a small smile on her lips.

"Hokage-sama!" the girl clinging to the woman's leg chirped happily.

Naruto grinned and kneeled down while spreading his arms. Kurenai's daughter cried out in joy as she looked up to her mom, who nodded. Sarutobi Hikari bolted at Naruto and giggled breathlessly as Naruto swung her up into the air and positioned her onto his arm. "Lonely without uncle Shikamaru?"

"Aunty Ino was feeling sick," Hikari stated factually as she leaned her head against Naruto's cheek, "Am I heavy?"

"Nah, if I can save a village I can lug an eleven year old around easily."

"Uncle Shikamaru says it's troublesome," Hikari muttered and pouted, she looked back at Naruto with a grin, "But I guess he's right. I'm a true kunoichi now, maybe I don't need to be carried around anymore." Hikari merrily tapped the hitae-ate that was wrapped around her waist. "I get to meet my instuctor tomorrow, Hokage-sama and my teammates are Shiranui Daiki and Matsumoto Jun!"

"I like kids so I'll always carry you around if you want and you're with Genma's kid huh… Wait isn't he a year or two younger than you… nevermind," Naruto grinned as Hikari smiled back at him broadly, "But I need to do some important things now Hikari-chan. Want to go back to your mom?"

Hikari pouted again and hopped off of Naruto's arm using his shoulder as leverage. Naruto stumbled slightly as the girl went on to hug Shino and Kiba before climbing onto Akamaru's back and riding him around the clearing while laughing merrily. Hikari didn't fully understand the significance of the cenotaph yet but Naruto was sure the dead didn't mind that people continued living their lives due to their sacrifices.

Naruto wondered how long she would be able to hold onto that innocence. Shino, Kiba, Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji and Kurenai had done a wonderful job protecting her from the world but in earnest, most of them had been pretty innocent until their first missions too.

Neji and Tenten were the first to approach the cenotaph as was custom. The two whispered to each other and Gai joined them. The man smiled like he usually did, only the slight pull at the corner of his mouth signified the agony the man was feeling at the memory of the boy that he had lost all those years ago. Those that watched knew that the trio was talking to Lee about the baby and how they had decided to name the new life after the old one. Tenten started to cry half way through and Neji pulled her closer and tucked her head under his chin as if to protect her from the world, including death. If Neji had had the disposition to cry he would have too but Gai displayed his emotions enough for the both of them. There was no shame as they recounted their memories and experiences back to the boy who was eternally seventeen. Tenten set the bundle of flowers at the base of cenotaph with a promise that they would go visit his grave later on in the day. When the trio stepped away from the cenotaph Neji had rushed Tenten to sit under the shade. The girl didn't have the strength to complain about his naggy treatment of her and had leaned heavily on Neji the whole way. Gai had followed them with his happy temper and everyone could hear him declare how he would be the not yet born child's mentor.

The next two to approach the cenotaph were Shino and Kiba. Naruto knew that it would happen, but it was a shock every single year and nothing would ever prepare him. Sasuke could also feel the sentiment as Shino collapsed to his knees and cried loud sobs that tore at their hearts. Kurenai kneeled beside the strong man and rested her head on his shoulder in comfort. Kiba stood beside the two with his arms crossed and continuous sniffles vibrating from him as he tried to prevent the tears from falling.

The name that sat right under Rock Lee was Hyuuga Hinata. She had died in the final fight against Deidara in order to save her friends.

Akamaru trotted up beside Kiba with Hikari still holding onto his back. Kiba uncrossed his arms as he patted Akamaru on the head. Akamaru whined softly at the sight of his master's tears and remembered the kind girl that had used to give him treats. Nudging Kiba slightly, Akamaru continued to whine as Kiba buried his nose into Akamaru's soft fur.

Naruto knew now that Hinata had loved him. Naruto also knew now that Shino had loved her even more. He would have never known had Shino not completely broken down at Hinata's funeral ten years ago. Never in his life had Naruto seen a sight so heart wrenching.

Shino who had sworn to protect Hinata no matter her feelings had in her last moments seen her back as she had jumped in front of him with her remaining strength in order to save him from the blast. She had, in the time before, managed to chuck Chouji, Kiba and Akamaru far away from Deidara because of her proximity to them and their distance from the insane man. She had seen the clay with her eyes before Deidara had turned himself into the ultimate weapon. Shino had been the one that was just too far from her and just to close to the explosives master.

Kiba had the job of telling the stories as Shino was in no condition to speak. Kiba's words were muddled, muffled by a thick layer or fur and quick but in them was his love for his teammate and his feelings of missing her. By the end Kiba was also sobbing and was hugging Akamaru around the neck tightly.

Hikari was crying as well. She hadn't known Hyuuga Hinata but she could feel the sadness permeating the air. She was still mostly a child, and as children do, she cried when those around her cried. It had been the same for the past ten years.

Kurenai who had already had the experiences of losing those close to her, she touched Asuma's name before touching Hinata's while skimming other names along the way, was given the job of spreading the flowers in the basket over the cenotaph. The petals of the flowers flew into the air as a gust of wind thrust the petals across the clearing and decorated the grass in an array of color.

Kiba was dragged away by Akamaru while Kurenai and Shino supported each other. Shino's tears and sobs stopped the moment the man was turned away from the cenotaph but the darkness of sadness still clung to him as he collapsed against a tree far away and closed himself off.

Naruto swallowed hard as he approached the cenotaph along with his best friend. Sasuke quickly touched a space between two names, two names so worn out that the space in between should have belonged to his brother, a man that should have died twenty-six years ago. Sasuke knew that his brother in no way belonged on this sacred stone, but one could only wish as Sasuke blinked in hard concentration. He always wondered what it would have been like if Itachi had never left Konoha, had never done what he had done.

Naruto gently touched the names of his two comrades and whispered small words out of kind consideration and remembrance. He missed them, he loved them, but Naruto needed to move on.

Naruto knew that he hadn't given enough time to the cenotaph when he felt the dark eyes of those behind him piercing into his back, but he couldn't help it. Today was not a day where he was the Hokage. Today was a day in which he was Uzumaki Naruto, a man who had loved his friends more than anything else in the world. Naruto stepped away from the cenotaph, keeping his fingers to the stone until he was much too far away.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's shoulder in reassurance as they walked away from the cenotaph with eyes still upon them. Naruto swallowed hard as he once again entered the line of trees where Kakashi was waiting for them. "You spent enough time," Kakashi murmured gently.

"I never feel like I spend enough time," Naruto coughed as the dark pressure continued to press on him.

Kakashi looked up to the sky sadly, "No… I guess we as the living never do."

Naruto looked back even though he knew that no one would follow. He sighed as he turned forward again. They had reached it, the official edge of Konoha. And right on the other side of the boundary was a bloomed cherry blossom tree with a small stone situated right below it.

Naruto saw three figures in front of the stone. Only one was sobbing while the other two were indifferent to everything but the girl who was breaking in front of the grave of her best friend. Even from behind Naruto knew what Ino looked like. The psychological attacks always left Ino in a state where her skin was pale if not slightly purple in color with bags under her eyes and lips as white as marble. The veins in her arms and legs could always be seen clearly and Naruto knew that the collapsed postion that the woman was in was not purely by choice.

Ino truly never had recovered from Sakura's betrayal and the nightmares of their last fight still haunted her to this day. Ino could still go on missions during every other week during the year, but the girl was indefinitely out of commission now. At the beginning it had been two whole years before even a spot of recovery, but the time had decreased and the woman seemed to still live. Shikamaru's endless, albeit troublesome, love and Chouji's boundless friendship had probably kept her from drowning.

Kakashi snapped a branch with his foot on purpose and within a second the three figures had disappeared back into the village borders with Ino resting on Shikamaru's back.

Naruto stifled in a sob as he took a couple large steps and bent toward the tombstone.

Haruno Sakura.

She hadn't been buried in the village, she hadn't had her name on the cenotaph and Naruto knew why but that didn't stop the pain. Tears dripped down his face as Sasuke knelt down beside him to set down the bouquet of flowers. "H-hello Sakura-chan," Naruto murmured as he leaned his forehead against the cold stone. "How have you been Sakura-chan?"

Sasuke stood up again with his hands in his pockets, "Is it lonely out here Sakura?"

"I come visit every so often," Kakashi piped in lightly.

"Would you lecture him Sakura-chan, for wasting away his life in the memory of the dead?" Naruto murmured, "We don't know Sakura-chan; you aren't here, so we don't know..."

"Naruto saved the village again," Sasuke grinned, "First was his fight against the Akatsuki, disbanding and killing all of them, and then the threat of a reincarnated man who tried to control all the bijuu and just the other day…"

"And I wouldn't have been able to do that one if you hadn't healed me from the inside. The kyuubi thought that your chakra was warm," Naruto laughed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes slightly, "…And the other day the dobe even more epically saved the village from a team who tried to destroy his favorite ramen stall."

"They knew it was my weakness!" Naruto bit out playfully and elbowed Sasuke in the knees. Naruto looked up at his best friend and saw the tears that were running down the man's face. Naruto looked away out of respect and leaned against the stone again. "Do you enjoy the cherry blossoms Sakura-chan? It's been my present to you Sakura-chan. I know it's your favorite flower, I used some of my chakra to keep it blooming, even in this season." Naruto sighed.

"We miss you Sakura," Kakashi stated openly, "We wish that you hadn't left us behind."

"Being left behind is painful," Sasuke murmured, "We're sorry."

Naruto's hand shook, "So… so sorry…"

_After_

It had been an hour since the trio had left Sakura's grave and the surroundings were turning pink from the cherry blossom petals dancing in the wind. From the shadows two men slowly looked at each other and nodded. The coast was clear. Deidara and Kisame appeared before the grave.

Deidara looked older and more ragged than he had ever been, but he had survived the ordeal ten years ago and more than that had survived the subsequent extermination of all the Akatsuki. He had a large scar on his chest where his ultimate weapon used to be, but it was the trade up of what he had done. Deidara had been able to kill one person in the last blast, less than what he had wanted but at least it had been the girl that had been able to touch him. His legs had never truly recovered but the comfort of her death was pleasing to him.

Kisame had left the fight with little qualm when Deidara's blast had gone off a little ways away. Kisame knew when he was losing and above all else he wanted his freedom and to have that freedom he required life. Kisame had lived his life well, unlike Deidara, Kisame didn't look like he had aged a day in the last decade.

Kisame sighed as he rolled his shoulders and grabbed the samehada that was strapped to his back. For the most part he didn't use the samehada anymore, it was mostly put into storage… the weapon was too much of an identifier of his legend as part of the Akatsuki and in this new world Hoshigaki Kisame would be hunted down like a guppy and he in no way wanted Sakura to be proven right. "Hello again bitch," Kisame grinned as he swung the samehada out in front of him, "missed us?"

Deidara scoffed, "Of course she missed us yeah." Deidara manipulated the small piece of clay in his hands as Kisame circled around the grave stone and toward the large blooming cherry blossom tree. On Kisame's hip and around his lower back was a new sword that he had taken from a white haired boy that he had killed on his travels; in the past he had known the man who had wielded it, Momochi Zabusa.

Deidara raised his eyebrows as wood splinters shot out everywhere as Kisame punched the large tree before stabbing the bark with the samehada. The effect was almost immediate. With the chakra consuming power of the samehada, the cherry blossom tree immediately began to wilt, the blossoms dropping to the ground in a hard shower. "You hate these bloody things," Kisame grinned as he clapped his hands to get rid of the debris, "I've learned that your pity is a prelude to hate… or I'd like to think… either way, you probably don't like this thing hanging over your head and whatnot." Leaving the samehada in its place so that the weapon could finish its job Kisame rounded back around the grave to stand beside Deidara.

Deidara completed his creation and grinned happily at the clay bird in his hands. "You think she'll like?"

"I can imagine that she would," Kisame murmured with a shrug, "you only ever change the color of the eyes."

"Wish you would give us a sign Sakura yeah," Deidara laughed as he placed the clay bird right on top of her tombstone.

"If you have a dream tonight about someone pounding on you, she's probably happy," Kisame shrugged.

"She showed her like for me in kinder ways yeah," Deidara retorted with a chuckle.

Kisame smirked, "Her reaction to me was much more genuine."

"Ah, I think that she's just always genuine," Deidara snorted.

"Hmm, probably," Kisame murmured as he the cherry blossoms fell around in him in a heavy rain. "Those idiots cry a lot."

"I didn't think that they would leave, yeah," Deidara muttered.

"Foolish idiots still don't know anything about her," Kisame laughed as he remembered the Hokage's statement. The sword weilder stepped on the bouquet of cherry blossom stems and ground the flowers into the dirt. When the man looked up again the tree was bare and essentially dead. Kisame grinned again as he stepped over the tombstone and wrenched the samehada from the bark of the bare tree. "My present to you Sakura-chan."

"Mine's better, yours never changes," Deidara snorted, "And gross, don't call her that."

"Yours is art?"

"Yeah."

"Not as fun without Sasori around is it?"

"No," Deidara laughed, "but they're together out there somewhere so whatever. I win."

"Ah, keep telling yourself that. I bet you Sasori is muttering about something like death being eternal and that the bitch is siding with him."

"Being dead is…"

"The bitch will side with him either way."

"You know, this is the reason that we don't see each other more often yeah."

Kisame smirked, "Can't live with you anyways."

"Having fun spreading your name?"

"Eh…"

"Not as fun with a fake name yeah?"

"It's like starting all over again," Kisame grinned, "Kind of fun but I kind of miss people running before they see me."

"Give it another five years and you'll have something else to tell Sakura, yeah," Deidara grinned and tilted his head, "A name without the shadow of the Akatsuki… that would be nice."

"You have any accomplishments?"

"I'm still free and expressing my art, yeah," Deidara stated simply, "It's a pretty awesome accomplishment."

"I guess."

"Never would have happened without you Sakura, yeah," Deidara chuckled as he patted the tombstone.

Kisame shrugged, "Blow her ego up, not like you haven't already done that a million times before."

"Just because I can express comradeship better than you can," Deidara grinned.

"Comradeship," Kisame muttered bluntly.

"Yes, comradeship yeah." Deidara grinned at Kisame's disbelieving stare, "And it's kind of fun picking on Sasori no danna even when he's dead."

"I knew it."

Deidara laughed before he leaned forward on the tombstone and kissed Sakura's name gently. Kisame rolled his eyes as both of them could only imagine how the duo would have reacted to Deidara's display of 'comradeship'.

Deidara stood up and backed away from the tombstone. "I think it's time to part, yeah."

"Agreed," Kisame murmured as he adjusted the samehada.

"I'll see you here next year then, yeah? Same time, same place?"

Kisame chuckled and smirked, "Yeah."

Deidara disappeared into the air upon a large clay bird as Kisame melted back into the shadows.

On Sakura's tombstone the small green eyes of the clay bird seemed to blink to life just as the two men departed and its wings stretch out. The bird took to the air and circled the dead cherry blossom tree a couple times before it flew into the hole in the trunk that Kisame had made with his fist.

Deidara grinned as he heard an explosion resound behind him.

The tomb was untouched by the explosion, Deidara's own special concoction that he only used once a year guaranteed the perfect results and as wanted, the cherry blossom tree was totally gone. Under the smoking mess of burning wood and right beside Sakura's tomb was another small stone. The roots of the cherry tree had previously covered the second small stone.

Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi had secretly honored Sakura's last wish and still continued to honor it with more than enough reluctance.

The second stone simply read 'Sasori'.

Deidara and Kisame both knew that the next day the cherry blossom tree would be replaced by the Hokage, with few questions asked.

_After_

Naruto sighed as he ignored the pressure that he felt on his senses. After the first year he had learned how to set up a barrier around Sakura's grave with his chakra so that the citizen's of Konoha didn't have to know more than they had to about his old friend. He had no idea what those people had against cherry blossom trees, Sakura had loved them, but those idiots probably didn't care that that tree was the only thing that was keeping the puppet master's grave from being defiled. Then again Naruto could understand, what had the Akatsuki understood about love and comradeship? Sakura had simply fallen in love with one of them and that man had used her to his very last. The puppet master should have been happy that he had gotten a proper burial just because Sakura had loved him.

But that didn't explain why Sakura's grave was always untouched year after year, but Naruto didn't want to even imagine, much less accept, the possibility of the Akatsuki being human. However, he had known for a long time now that, that was true. The Akatsuki was human… and he just wished the day would end so that he wouldn't have to ponder his choices and his heroism again until the next year. Sakura had died so that he would never be unsure of his choices.

Naruto would get Kakashi to plant another cherry blossom tomorrow when the old man went to visit Sakura-chan. Kakashi probably already knew without saying by now.

Sasuke had long split up from the Hokage to return to go visit one last grave and then back to his family for the night and Kakashi had returned to the cenotaph for another year of contemplation. The man spent more time with the dead now than with the living and Naruto seriously did wonder if what Kakashi suffered through was just as bad as what had happened to Ino.

Naruto sighed again as he walked toward his home, back to his wife. The smell of ramen wafted into the air and Naruto looked up to smile at his wife who was waiting for him at the door. "Ayame-chan," Naruto grinned as he opened his arms to envelope her into a tight hug.

"Are you okay?" Ayame asked gently as she patted Naruto on the cheek. Naruto nodded slightly and closed his eyes. He took in her touch like it was sunshine and despite other people calling out their age difference, he didn't care. She had been there for him all of his life and had been the most supportive person for him after they had come back from that faithful mission. She was also one of the people he was close to that was far removed from the tragedy of the shinobi world. She was his anchor to a world that didn't have to involve war and death.

"Daddy?" a small voice squeaked.

Naruto blinked as his daughter toddled out from behind his wife. "Hello sweetie," Naruto chuckled as he kneeled down and picked up his daughter and swung her in the air in a large arch before carrying her with his arms like he had done with Asuma's and Kurenai's daughter.

Her childish three-year-old laugh resonated within him as his wife pushed him inside the house and shut the door. Ayame smiled and squeezed her husband's arm before she hopped back into the kitchen. She could see that her husband was getting teary eyed by staring at their daughter's toothy grin.

"Why are you crying daddy?" his daughter chirped as she flung herself at his tears and swiped them away like a true shinobi.

Naruto grinned weakly as he brought his daughter as close to his body as possible and held her with all of his love. "Because daddy's happy Sakura-chan, because daddy is happy."

* * *

**Secret's Corner**

The END!

An extra speedy update for all you readers that I love. You've made this a wonderful experience in completing a long multi-chap story for the first time in like a gazillion years.

Omg... I can't believe this is over. I know that a couple of you wanted to have a Sasori/Sakura moment in this epilogue... but I'm sad to say that I just couldn't make it work, but I did give you all a hint of what Sakura and Sasori would probably be doing in their after life through the eyes of Kisame and Deidara who are indeed still very much alive!

On a side note... there will be a little spin off of this story in my one-shot "In Passage" which some of your might know about from my profile. It will probably give you more on what's happening on the Sasori/Sakura end of the scale though again, it IS just a spin off.

I'm already getting started on my next Sasori/Sakura which should (if inspiration keeps attacking me) be starting to get posted within the next six months... or if we're really lucky... in only one month.

Again love you all and thank you for finishing this wonderful ride with me!

Now notes on the epilogue... yes Naruto still misunderstands but he never should have been enlightened in the first place. Sakura simply dies... she never bestows any knowledge on him in her last moments and honestly I like this very human Naruto to the all knowing, level up Naruto, who understands everyone and everything, as he currently is in the manga. This however... doesn't take away that fact that Naruto did love Sakura and god even I kind miffed myself up at the last line.

If there are any glaringly huge loop holes in the story that you can find... tell me so that I don't make the same mistakes in the future. I hope to see you all again soon!

Somber Secrets


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